Turkey Initiated AD Investigation on Solar Panel Against China
Turkey initiated an anti-dumping investigation on “solar panel” originating in China by the Communique on “Prevention of Unfair Import Practices in Imports” numbered 2016/29 published in the Official Journal of Turkey dated 1 July 2016.China is the main supplier of “solar panel” to Turkey and has great stake in Turkish market. In terms of 2015 data, Turkish total imports in 2015 is 360 million USD. and China gets 82% of this pie with 296 million USD.
In terms of the statistics regarding first 5 months of 2016 China has 543 million USD imports. The soar in imports of China according to first 5 months of 2016 is significant. It clearly shows the greedy level and outstanding growth potential of the Turkish market. China is the most targeted country of Turkey. Currently 58 out of 154 measures of Turkey are against China. But, it is the biggest case initiated against China until today. It seems that the “solar panel war” witnessed in recent years among the developed countries EU, US, Canada and China is jumping to the developing countries which have newly established their own solar industry such as Turkey now.
However, Turkish domestic industry is not mature yet. It has no sufficient capacity to meet the demand of Turkey. In addition there is no “solar cell” producer in Turkey. The business environment and imposition of the anti-dumping measure against China most probably will trigger Chinese producers to make direct investment into Turkey. I think this would be a big opportunity not only for Chinese companies but also Turkish solar industry. Now, I believe that it is time to invest “solar business” in Turkey for Chinese companies without further delay.
