China expects plunge in solar products exports

Cites ongoing trade disputes as the reason.

Exports of China's photovoltaic solar products will drop to about US$13 billion in 2012, a 40% drop year-on-year.

 Wang Bohua, secretary general of the China PV Industry Alliance, said both Europe's anti-dumping and anti-subsidies investigations on China's solar products and the probes started by the United States are the main causes of the reduction.

Overseas markets comprise 90% of China's PV industry output. The USA and Europe are China’s two biggest markets.

Domestic orders for manufacturing equipment for PV solar products have dropped 80% year-on-year, which indicates the dramatic drop of China's PV production, according to Wang.

"Up to 90% of Chinese polysilicon producers have stopped production because of the falling demand," he said. "Even though some large companies are trying hard to keep producing, their capacity utilization is low."