China-EU trade takes step forward, says MOFCOM official

Replacing the previous price undertaking with the minimum import price (MIP) and gradually lowering the MIP as proposed by the European Commission (EC) marks an active step forward for the recovery of photovoltaic (PV) product trade between China and the EU, an official from China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said Monday.

“The price undertaking was achieved through joint efforts of governments and companies in China and the EU,” said Wang Hejun, head of MOFCOM’s trade remedy and investigation bureau.

“We have noticed that the EC has partly absorbed the advice from the Chinese government, industry organizations and companies during the proceedings of the mid-term review,” Wang said

The EC, the executive arm of the EU, released its final ruling of the mid-term review on Saturday, revealing the decision to change the way it levies anti-subsidy duties on PV products imported from China by adjusting the MIP.

In March, the EC decided to extend its anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures by 18 months, while also announcing it would start the mid-term review.

Wang said the imposition of antidumping and anti-subsidy duties on Chinese PV products over the past few years has brought unnecessary distortion for the EU market, hurting both China’s interests and the EU’s.

“We want the EU to end the antidumping and anti-subsidy measures as soon as possible to provide a more stable business environment for bilateral industrial cooperation, realizing a win-win situation,” according to Wang.