ISMA to file fresh petition for anti-dumping probe on solar equipment

The Indian Solar Manufacturers Association (ISMA) today said it has withdrawn its anti-dumping petition on solar equipment and will soon file a fresh plea with a different reference period of investigation.
The ISMA feels there was a jump of 33 to 45 per cent in imports of solar equipment from China, Taiwan and Malaysia during July to December last year. The body had earlier filed its petition covering the investigation period till June 2017. The fresh petition would cover the period December 2017.
"It necessitated the need to contemporarise the period of investigation, and therefore ISMA has withdrawn the earlier petition," it said in a statement.

ISMA has said it will soon be approaching the commerce department and the honourable authority to file a fresh petition with a more relevant and more recent period of investigation.
Elaborating further, it said, "We had filed the petition for anti-dumping duty on solar cells and modules, covering the period of investigation till June 2017. However, the import trends since then have made the period of investigation irrelevant."
It said, "Despite an ongoing investigation, the exports from China, Taiwan and Malaysia of cells and modules increased by 33 to 45 per cent during the period of July 2017 to December 2017. This massive increase in volumes was enabled by a significant price reduction to dump more material in India. The prices in the same period fell by about 25 per cent."

Meanwhile, India had proposed to levy a 70 per cent safeguard duty on import of solar power equipment from countries like China for 200 days to protect domestic industry.
The Directorate General of Safeguards in a January 5 recommendation to the finance ministry said solar cells are "being imported into India in such increased quantities and under such conditions so as to cause or threaten to cause serious injury to the domestic industry manufacturing like or directly competitive products.