China’s dominance in solar panel manufacturing appears to be facing its most severe downturn to date, according to a report by PV Mag, which said the second half this year “is expected to see a decline in China’s PV manufacturing capacity due to oversupply and ongoing losses.”
The future of solar cell and module manufacturing in Southeast Asia depended on anti-dumping and countervailing duty that will be determined by the US Department of Commerce, it said, adding that most Chinese solar suppliers being investigated over their production of panels in Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam had stopped shipping to the US due to the elevated risk of retroactive tariffs being applied to their products.
“PV factories in those countries have significantly reduced utilization rates and even shut down prior to the preliminary determination, which had been expected in July 2024, but had not been publicised at the time of going to press,” the report said.
“If the imposed tariffs turn out to be financially unfeasible for continuing exports of cells or modules to the United States, that would leave the most significant manufacturing capacity outside China underused in the second half of the year: up to 100 GW of idle cell and module annual production capacity.”
Read the full report: PV Mag
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