Anti dumping debate to dominate Milan proceedings
The forecast is for an extremely heated debate, full of surprises, between the international associations representing the solar power industry at the first Global Solar Summit which will take place at the Milan Rho Fair from 8 to 9 May 2013 - at Solarexpo and at the same time as the forthcoming decision of the European Commission on punitive duties on Chinese solar power equipment.
According to rumours from the international press recently, the EU Commission should announce its decision on what is recognised as the biggest commercial dispute in the history of the European Union on 8 May, the day on which the spokespersons of the main industry associations in Europe, the United States and China "“ Epia, Seia, EU ProSun and Afase "“ together with the head of the solar power section of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, will speak at the Global Solar Summit on the subject: "What are the conditions for sustainable growth in a free market: governing growth cycles and managing commercial disputes".
During the break following the opening session of the conference on May 8th, both EU ProSun and Afase will held a press conference open to all media in the Press Room at Solarexpo-The Innovation Cloud (after the already announced press conference by Global Solar Alliance), focusing on this topic.
In the anti-dumping investigation, the European Commission has to decide until 6th June 2013 whether to impose provisional duties. Wouter Vermeersch, CEO of the Belgian company Cleantec Trade and a AFASE spokesperson, comments: "The solar business is very price sensitive. Solar companies already had to cope with continuously decreasing feed-in tariffs in the past. If prices are artificially increased by punitive tariffs, the European solar market would simply come to a standstill with disastrous effects on green jobs".
"Dumping is the fundamental problem in the European solar market", said Milan Nitzschke, President of EU ProSun. "China's daily violations of international trade law
destroy thousands of manufacturing jobs in Europe. Tolerating this situation will allow China to create a monopoly in the solar industry, leading to disastrous effect on the European solar industry, including suppliers, equipment manufacturers and thousands of installers. This is because monopolies lead to higher, not lower, prices".
