US solar panel imports surge in Q4 as industry looks to rebound from 'rollercoaster' 2022: S&P
Second half imports rebound in response to President Joe Biden's waiver last June of tariffs on certain PV cells and modules from four southeast Asian nations
US fourth quarter solar panel imports surged 39% from a year earlier, completing a second-half rebound in a “rollercoaster” 2022 defined by the ups and downs of the federal government’s international trade policies, according to a new analysis from S&P Global Market Intelligence.
Global suppliers, mainly from southeast Asia, delivered 44,712 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers carrying modules, the highest quarterly import level for the US recorded by Panjiva, the supply chain research unit of S&P.
Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam together accounted for 78.7% of the 672,863 tonnes of PV modules imported by the US in the period, versus about 82% in the third quarter. Vietnam was the top supplier with 279,636 tonnes, more than the other three nations combined.
Quarter-on-quarter imports rose almost 6%, S&P said in a research note. Full year imports were down 1.4% to 140,263 TEUs after shipments plummeted in the first half.
At issue is whether Chinese manufacturers are avoiding present US duties by routing product to assembly plants there for “minor processing” before delivery to customers here.
After an investigation, the Department of Commerce (DoC) initially found four large Chinese suppliers were doing this and would be subject to tariffs as from 6 June 2024 – if this initial finding is ratified in a final determination due out on 1 May this year.
Among them was an affiliate of China-based Longi Green Energy Technology, a major panel supplier to the US industry.
Another 22 companies in Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam did not respond to DoC’s request for information in the probe, and consistent with longstanding agency practice, were initially found to be circumventing US tariffs.
DoC identified four other Chinese suppliers as complying with US tariffs including Jinko Solar, another major player here.
The threat of new and retroactive tariffs on cells and modules had a chilling effect on US sector activity with utility PV installations tumbling 36% last year to 11.8GW, the worst result since 2019. Utility PV is by far the largest solar market segment.
US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) enforcement of the Uyghur Forced Labour Protection Act starting last June also resulted in thousands of solar equipment detentions. The law addresses alleged human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang region, a major supply source for polysilicon, cells, and other critical components in solar panels.
While the presumption that any product using inputs from Xinjiang benefited from forced labor is rebuttable, the process for providing the proper evidence to comply with the law can take weeks, even months.
Potential detention of product led some solar panel suppliers in Southeast Asia to divert cargoes away from the US market or to avoid filling orders from there.
China has repeatedly denied the allegations of forced labour. The law “is built on a lie,” Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington, said in an email to S&P.
Last Friday, Gener Miao, chief marketing officer of Jinko Solar, said on an earnings call that the bottleneck with CBP is gradually improving. “We have seen the light at the end of the tunnel.”