Estonia against import duties on Chinese dumping

TALLINN - Estonia did not support the proposal by the European Commission to impose an anti-dumping customs tariff on the importation of solar panels of Chinese origin in the presented form, the Economy Ministry said, reports Postimees Online. Wide-spread state aid is considered to be the main source of problems associated with the solar panels originating from China. Such aid lowers their prices to an unfair competitive level when exported to the European Union.

In connection with this, the European Commission has two proceedings under way: an anti-dumping proceeding and anti-subsidy proceeding. The anti-dumping proceeding has reached initial conclusions already; the anti-subsidy proceedings will reach its initial conclusions in the next few months.

“We are of the position that the data collected during the anti-subsidy proceeding gives us a true picture of why the sales prices of Chinese companies are cheaper than the price levels of the union’s producers,” said Economy Ministry spokesman Martin Miido. “The anti-dumping proceeding focuses on comparison of final prices and doesn’t analyze the causes [for this] that much,” Miido said, explaining why the Ministry wants to wait for the data collected in the framework of the anti-subsidy proceeding before making a final decision.