The government of India has notified the imposition of anti-dumping duty on the ‘Ethylene Vinyl Acetate (EVA)’ sheets for solar modules imported from China PR, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, and Thailand for five years.

Recently, the Directorate General of Trade Remedies recommended the imposition of anti-dumping duty on the imports of EVA sheets to eliminate injury caused to the domestic industry by the unfair trade practices of dumping and to re-establish open and fair competition in the Indian market. Imposition of anti-dumping measures would not restrict imports from any country and would not affect the availability of the products to the consumers.

 “Imposition of duty is required to offset dumping and injury caused by dumped imports from China, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, and Thailand. However, having found that the volume of imports from South Korea was below the minimum level during the investigation it is appropriate to terminate the investigation against South Korea in terms of Rule 14(d),” said government notification.

In April 2018, the office of Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD)  (now DGTR) had initiated an investigation on the import of EVA sheets for solar modules imported from China PR, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and Thailand.

Later, imports from South Korea were excluded from the investigation as DGTR found that these imports are mostly EVA resins, the raw material for EVA sheets.

The petition was filed by RenewSys, Vishakha Renewables Private Limited, and Allied Glasses Private Limited. In the petition, it was mentioned that there is no known difference between the EVA sheets imported from the countries mentioned above and that produced by the petitioners, and the consumers can use the two interchangeably. EVA sheets are integral to the process of production of solar modules. In the petition, RenewSys said that they could produce EVA sheets of all widths and thicknesses as desired by solar module manufacturers in India.

The investigation focused on the EVA sheets exported to India between October 1, 2016, and September 30, 2017.

The anti-dumping duty will be effective from the date of publication of the notification in the official gazette.

Nitin is a staff reporter at Mercomindia.com and writes on renewable energy and related sectors. Prior to Mercom, Nitin has worked for CNN IBN, India News, Agricultural Spectrum and Bureaucracy Today. He received his bachelor’s degree in Journalism & Communication from Manipal Institute of Communication at Manipal University and Master’s degree in International Relations from Jindal School of International Affairs. More articles from Nitin Kabeer