Electrical Equipment / Components & Telecoms

As one of the "new three types" (electric vehicles, photovoltaic products and lithium batteries) that lead the growth of China's foreign trade, the photovoltaic industry delivered a dazzling report card in 2022. According to the data released by the China Photovoltaic Industry Association, in 2022, the total international trade export of China's photovoltaic products (silicon wafers, cells and modules) will be about US $51.25 billion, up 80.3% year on year.

Interviewed experts said that, despite the complex and severe domestic and international situation, China's photovoltaic industry faced difficulties last year, the production process and conversion efficiency continued to improve, and exports achieved rapid growth. This year, in the face of many uncertainties in the international environment, in order to ensure a more stable export, photovoltaic enterprises should not only pay close attention to the new changes in international trade policies and situations, but also continue to build high-quality services and brands, and seize the market in an all-round way through multiple channels.

Enterprises have global competitive advantages

Sorting out the bright performance of China's photovoltaic exports in 2022, from the perspective of product exports, there is a trend of both volume and price. Among them, the export volume of PV modules reached 42.361 billion US dollars, with an export volume of about 153.6GW, up 55.8% year on year, both reaching a record high; The export volume of silicon wafers was about 36.3GW, with a year-on-year increase of 60.8%; The export volume of battery cells was about 23.8GW, with a year-on-year increase of 130.7%. From a regional perspective, the export of photovoltaic products to the markets of all continents will increase to different degrees in 2022, with the largest growth rate in Europe, with a year-on-year increase of 114.9%, accounting for about 46% of the total exports, and the proportion continues to increase. It is the most important export market in China.

At the same time as the overall increase of PV exports, the export performance of leading enterprises is even more commendable. A person related to Jingke Energy told the International Business News: "The main export product of Jingke Energy is photovoltaic modules, which has ranked first in the global module shipments for many years. In the whole year of 2022, the company's photovoltaic module shipments exceeded 44GW."

This cannot be separated from the efforts of Chinese photovoltaic enterprises to accelerate the pace of "going to sea" and expand their overseas layout in recent years. It is understood that Jingke Energy currently has 14 production bases (3 overseas) and 35 overseas branches in the world, and its products are sold to more than 160 countries. Another leading Chinese photovoltaic enterprise, Trina Solar, has set up regional headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, San Jose, Miami, Tokyo, Singapore and Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, and production and manufacturing bases in Thailand and Vietnam. Its business covers more than 100 countries and regions around the world. Longji Green Energy has not only set up many production and manufacturing bases in Vietnam, Malaysia and other countries and regions, but also set up branches in the United States, Japan, Germany and other countries, with businesses covering more than 150 countries and regions around the world.

"The high growth rate of China's PV exports last year reflects two major trends: first, the demand for clean energy products in the international trade market has increased significantly, and second, the scale of China's PV industry, product quality and the brand influence of" going global "have been expanding." said Zhang Sen, Secretary-General of the PV Branch of the China Mechanical and Electrical Products Import and Export Association.

Speaking of the strong growth of China's photovoltaic exports, Zhang Xiaobing, CEO of Kefande Investment, said to the reporter of International Business Daily that on the one hand, China's photovoltaic enterprises are competitive in terms of core technology, capacity expansion and cost advantages, and can occupy more international market share with more competitive prices and higher quality products and services. On the other hand, last year, the Chinese government adopted a number of incentives and incentives for exports, including the reduction and exemption of export tax rebates, the expansion of export credit and other measures, providing strong support for enterprises to expand overseas markets.

In addition, Zhong Chuting, the logistics manager of Solo Technology Co., Ltd., told reporters that in order to cope with climate change and achieve the goal of carbon neutrality, governments of various countries have formulated many incentive policies for new energy power generation, such as the European Climate Act passed by the European Union in 2021, and member countries have promised to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050; The United States returned to the Paris Agreement and promised to achieve zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. These policies and commitments show the governance and determination of governments in green energy conservation and emission reduction, and have formulated a series of policy measures around the goal of carbon reduction, such as curbing the use of coal power, increasing and optimizing the structural proportion of renewable new energy power generation. This also helps the development of new energy industry at the policy level and creates favorable conditions for PV export.

Export growth prospects remain positive

According to the prediction of the China Photovoltaic Industry Association, the new installed capacity of domestic PV is expected to reach 95~120GW in 2023, and the annual installed capacity of global PV is expected to reach 280~330GW.

Many photovoltaic enterprises have also anchored the development direction of this year. Jingke Energy said that the current photovoltaic industry is at a critical stage of upgrading from P-type modules to N-type modules. With higher power generation gain and more diverse application scenarios, the Tiger Neo component, the flagship product of Jingke Energy, has been a "N-type cyclone" in the overseas market dominated by Europe, and has achieved a considerable sales premium compared with the traditional P-type component while obtaining a large number of orders. "At present, Jingke Energy has established the world's largest N-type capacity of more than 35GW. This year, N-type components will become the company's main export product."

However, Wang Bohua, honorary chairman of the China Photovoltaic Industry Association, reminded that the challenges of photovoltaic exports from overseas should not be ignored. The intensification of international competition in photovoltaic manufacturing is an issue that needs to be focused on in the future. Some countries are playing the combination of "trade barriers+supporting domestic enterprises", which increases the uncertainty of China's photovoltaic enterprises to expand the international trade market.

Zhang Xiaobing also mentioned that the international trade export situation of the photovoltaic industry this year faces many challenges, including the impact of the global political and economic situation, obstacles to international trade policies, and sudden changes in energy and environmental protection policies in some developed countries. "However, from the current development trend, China's export of photovoltaic products still has a good growth prospect," said Zhang Xiaobing.

Zhang Xiaobing put forward three suggestions on how to make the "going to sea" of photovoltaic products smoother: first, enterprises should continue to control product quality, strengthen research and development and technological innovation, improve product quality and function, improve pre-sale and after-sales service level, win more market share in the fierce international competition, and obtain higher export added value.

Secondly, we should be more active in "going out" and expanding overseas markets, such as actively participating in international trade fairs, opening up new customers, strengthening contact with overseas agents and partners, etc. At the same time, we should be good at making use of new platforms such as the Internet and cross-border e-commerce to seize the market in an all-round way through multiple channels.

In addition, timely grasp the changes in international trade policies, make reasonable use of the support functions of import and export preferential policies and chambers of commerce and other platforms, and minimize the impact of trade barriers and adverse rules of international trade, so as to increase exports.