Electrical Equipment / Components & Telecoms

On June 15, in order to eliminate the damage caused to the domestic market of India, the Ministry of Finance of India decided to impose anti-dumping duties on fluorine-coated backsheets (excluding transparent backsheets) imported from China.

A fluorine-coated backsheet is a polymer component used in the manufacture of solar modules. It protects components from dust, moisture and decay.

Anti-dumping duties levied under this notice shall be levied within five years after publication of this notice in the Official Gazette (unless revoked, superseded or earlier amended) and payable in Indian currency.

The Ministry of Finance of India imposed an anti-dumping duty of US$762/ton on fluorine-coated backsheets originating in or imported from China and produced by Jolywood and Sunwatt, and levied an anti-dumping duty of US$908/ton on all other producers. A tariff of US$908/ton is levied on the fluorine-coated backsheets (excluding transparent backsheets) that are not produced by Zhonglai New Materials and are imported from any country in China; Fluorine-coated backsheets (excluding transparent backsheets) are subject to a tariff of $908/ton;

Tariffs and Impact

According to the amount of tax and weight, a 19-26% tariff will be imposed on Chinese-made fluorine-coated backsheets (excluding transparent backsheets), since backsheets account for only 3% of the cost of components, while Indian backsheets account for only 3%. The production capacity is small, and Indian module companies still need to import a large number of backplanes, which will have a certain impact on China's backplane exports as a whole.

However, Chinese enterprises can seize technological advantages to achieve differentiated competition. The core technology is the primary productive force, and the transparent backplane proves this.

In March this year, the Directorate General of Trade Remedy (DGTR) of India proposed to impose a five-year anti-dumping duty on fluorine-coated backsheets imported from China. Earlier, Indian module manufacturer RenewSys filed a complaint claiming that the fluorine-coated backsheets made in China were identical to those made in India, and DGTR later launched an anti-dumping investigation.

Following the investigation, the DGTR released its findings and recommendations. The survey period is from October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020.

DGTR pointed out that the absolute value of imports of fluorine-coated backsheets from China increased throughout the damage investigation period. The CIF prices of these imports are well below the unaffected prices of the domestic industry, suggesting a serious undervaluation of 20% to 30%.

The DGTR concluded that the damage to the domestic industry was not due to any other known factor. As a result, the dumped imports from the target country have caused substantial damage to the Indian domestic industry.

To offset the damage caused by dumping in the Indian market, in September last year, the DGTR proposed to impose anti-dumping duties on some flat-rolled aluminium products imported from China. Flat rolled aluminium is used to manufacture mounting structures for solar modules.