US government officials investigating SolarWorld's anti-dumping and countervailing duty petitions against Chinese PV manufacturers have extended the timeline for a preliminary determination to 2 March.

It is the second time the US Department of Commerce (DOC) has changed the schedule of its investigation.

The preliminary determination in the case, which tests whether Chinese crystalline silicon PV cells and modules benefitted from illegal government subsidies and were sold below cost on the US market, had originally been scheduled for 12 January, before being delayed to 13 February.

Under the trade action SolarWorld has taken, it falls to the DOC to determine whether the alleged illegal subsidies and dumping occurred, and, if so the dumping margin and subsidy amount. SolarWorld has asked for tariffs as high as 100%.

The US International Trade Commission, in its parallel investigation, found in December "a reasonable indication" that US manufacturers had been "materially injured" by Chinese imports.

Gordon Brinser, president of the US unit of German manufacturer SolarWorld, says the DOC extension is "common in trade investigations".

"The Department of Commerce requested SolarWorld to ask for this brief additional extension to allow Commerce sufficient time to conduct a comprehensive investigation and to complete a thorough and fair analysis of the subsidies at issue," Brinser says in a statement. "Commerce also has been hampered by slow responses from the Chinese respondents."

The extension means that any retroactive duties imposed by the DOC would reach back to imports from 3 December, rather than the November and October dates suggested by the previous DOC timelines.

That would appear to mean that hundreds of thousands of panels imported in November as developers raced to start projects ahead of a 31 December deadline to qualify for the US Treasury 30% cash grant would be safe from any retroactive duties.

SolarWorld asserted earlier this week that Chinese imports surged in the latter half of the year as importers tried to stockpile inventory ahead of potential duties. Analysts note that other factors, including the cyclically strong fourth quarter and the Treasury grant deadline, are likely also at play.

By Benjamin Romano

Source: rechargenews.com