Chinese firms increase polysilicon production

Prompted by concerns about retroactive tariffs.

Chinese polysilicon makers are boosting production as imports decline amid concerns about retroactive tariffs on polysilicon, the raw material for solar panels. Among the firms that have done so are CL-Poly Energy Holdings Ltd. and Daqo New Energy Corporation.

Daqo expects to deliver almost one-third more polysilicon in the second quarter than in the first. GCL-Poly also increased production in the quarter.

China, the world’s biggest maker of solar panels, is preparing anti-dumping duties on polysilicon imports it judges to have been sold below cost. The Ministry of Commerce has said it’s determining whether penalties should be set retroactively on suppliers from the U.S., the European Union and South Korea. Imports dropped to the lowest in six months in May.

The probe follows a U.S. inquiry into Chinese panel suppliers begun in 2011 and by the EU in 2012 after falling prices led to the collapse of many companies.

China imported 5,859 tons of polysilicon in May, a 19 percent drop from a month earlier and the lowest since November, according to data from the General Administration of China Customs.