Trade watchdog imposes 10% duty on solar panel imports to ‘protect local industry’

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MacKay believes the 25% local content requirement on solar panels supplied in the Reippp is already a strong protectionist measure.

Two years ago, a solar panel was priced at 25c per watt. It has almost halved to 13c per watt.The only remaining solar panel manufacturer in South Africa has received protection from low-priced imports, mainly from China. The International Trade Administration Commission introduced a 10% general import duty to protect manufacturers, attract new investments and encourage the deepening of the input value chain.

Two years ago, a solar panel was priced at 25c per watt. It has almost halved to 13c per watt.“This price decrease is not sustainable. Many raw material manufacturers have been closing because it is not possible to keep supplying at these lossmaking prices.” ARTsolar retrenched 220 people in 2016 due to the flood of low imports and the stop-start reactions to the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Programme .He adds that local bidders were all committed to supporting the government’s requirement for local content in the Reippp bid process, but once it came to the implementation phase, they bypassed local producers by importing cheaper products.

He says local installers who think they can now buy panels from ARTsolar to sidestep the 10% duty are mistaken because the company will increase its prices to follow the duties.

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