U.S. Department of Commerce issued preliminary findings in the antidumping duty investigations of cells from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam

On November 29, the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) issued a preliminary ruling on the anti-dumping (AD) investigation of crystalline cells from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam, announcing the dumping rates for each exporter/producer. This ruling greatly affects Southeast Asian PV exports to the U.S. and could reshape the global supply chain.

The AD duties for all countries, except Malaysia, are consistent with those outlined in the April petition. The preliminary ruling mostly aligns with the petitioners’ request.

The AD duty table below shows several key trends:

1. The “all others” rates for each country, from lowest to highest, are Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam, mostly between 50-60%, matching InfoLink’s expectations without adverse inferences.

2. Some companies are marked as “This rate is based on facts available with adverse inferences” (see the red sections of the table below). This indicates that these companies either lacked transparency or refused to provide data, so investigators assumed the worst and applied higher tax rates. Cambodia, Malaysia, and Thailand have companies in this category. Vietnam’s overall tax rate is also marked with this note, likely due to its socialist system and partially free economy, resulting in the highest rate in this investigation.

3. Hanwha Q Cells is marked as “This rate is de minimis” (see the blue section of the table below). A similar situation occurred with Thailand’s Trina Solar and Vietnam’s Boviet in previous CVD rulings. This indicates that the authorities considered their dumping or subsidy margins negligible, with limited market impact, resulting in a lower tax rate.

4. Some Thai companies, like Trina Solar, Sunshine Electrical Energy, and Taihua New Energy, are marked as “N/A” with no tax rate published, indicating “Not Applicable” or “Not Available.” Missing data could be the reason, and the tax rates may be provided later.

5. Cambodian manufacturers such as Hounen Solar and Solar Long likely received high tax rates for not cooperating. This matches a Reuters report from October 21 which stated that these companies could not continue allocating resources to participate in this investigation.