(MENAFN- AFP) A US trade panel on Wednesday cleared the way for import duties on certain solar cell products made in China and Taiwan, saying they were hurting the US solar industry.
The US International Trade Commission said it had determined there was a negative impact on US producers from the imports of certain crystalline silicon photovoltaic products from the two sources, after the Commerce Department showed that they were being dumped, or sold at below market value, and that they were being unfairly subsidized.
As a result, the independent federal government agency said, the Commerce Department will issue countervailing duty orders on imports of these products from China and antidumping duty orders on imports of these products from China and Taiwan.
The Commerce Department is expected to announce the punitive duties by the end of January.
The ITC decision came a year after the Commerce Department launched the probes on imports of certain crystalline silicon photovoltaic products from China and Taiwan, another round in trade conflicts between the world's two largest economies.
At issue are imports of products that include crystalline silicon photovoltaic cell, module and panels, imported as separate components or integrated with other products.
The value of the solar product imports under investigation was more than $2.1 billion in 2013, with an estimated $1.5 billion in imports from China and $656.8 million from Taiwan, according to the Commerce Department.
In December, the department said it had found that China and Taiwan were dumping the products and that China was unfairly subsidizing them.
The probe was requested by a large US solar manufacturer, SolarWorld Industries America Inc., of Hillsboro, Oregon, a unit of German solar giant SolarWorld AG.
"Today's decision confirms the facts set out in our initial filing, the commission staff report and our testimony at the agency's November hearing in the case. Manufacturers in China and Taiwan used illegal trade practices that harm the US industry," said Mukesh Dulani, president of SolarWorld's US unit, in a statement.
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