Too often, our companies are excluded from foreign markets or are victims of predatory practices. They are often undercut by competitors benefitting from huge state subsidies.

We have not forgotten how China's unfair trade practices affected our solar industry. Many young businesses were pushed out by heavily subsidised Chinese competitors.

..."EU Pro Sun, an industry association, claimed in its complaint lodged on 25 July 2012 that solar panels and their key components imported from China enter the European market at prices below market value [sic]," the [European] commission said. "The commission is legally obliged to open an anti-dumping investigation if it receives a valid complaint from a Union industry which provides evidence that exporting producers from one or more countries are dumping a particular product into the EU and causing injury to the Union industry."....

... As the market for and imports of solar panels in the EU is very large, it is important for this duty not to disrupt it. Therefore, a phased approach will be followed with the duty set at 11.8% until 6 August 2013. From August on the duty will be set at the level of 47.6% which is the level required to remove the harm caused by the dumping to the European industry....

The challenges to the EU in the solar panel case
... The growing trade relations of Member States with China weakened the Commission's role of representing an integrated EU in negotiations. And while European solar manufacturers filed the complaint on the basis of China's noncompetitive pricing, the low costs of solar panels redounded to the benefit of the EU's renewable energy policy. As the EU sought to be a global model for using renewable energy, solar power, being an important renewable energy source to meet the 20 percent EU renewable energy consumption by 2020, witnessed a booming growth.

archive post-FIT "green" technology

Under the 2020 package, Member States have taken on binding national targets for raising the share of renewable energy in their energy consumption. The feed-in-tariff²³, has been adopted by many countries to promote the installation of solar panel products. In particular, EU countries subsidise solar customers while the Chinese government subsidises producers. Subsequently, the heavy budgetary burden forced EU Member States to drastically curtail their subsidies to consumers of solar panels. The decreasing prices of solar panel products imported from China have relieved the European countries of the financial burden from subsidies.

archive  "They are trying to revive slavery in the free land, to bring you to your knees. You have to choose between hunger and human dignity"

Moreover, the Chinese products have also been considered by some as an important factor for making solar power "cheap enough to revolutionise Germany's energy sector".²⁴ However, the EU solar manufactures' interest also needs to be considered under the WTO framework. There is also a challenge for the EU to balance the conflict between its solar manufacturing industry and the consumers....

Europe's spending on solar imports has almost quadrupled in the last five years, surging from €5.5 billion in 2018 to more than < evil pinkie > €20 billion last year, while the supply source has become increasingly concentrated. An overwhelming €18.5 billion, equal to 91% of all PV import expenditure, was spent on Chinese products, as volatile panel prices impacted buying decisions. A critical shortage of solar-grade polysilicon—a crucial raw material in manufacturing PV modules—in 2021 and 2022, coupled with rising demand for installed solar PV, contributed to soaring panel prices worldwide. As China dominates both the production and processing of polysilicon into PV modules, Chinese manufacturers have been increasingly able to undercut the competition on price. Today, panels made in China often cost as little as two-thirds of European-manufactured capacity.

European Warehouses Are Overflowing With Chinese Solar Panels (20.07.23)
A critical shortage of solar-grade polysilicon—a crucial raw material in manufacturing PV modules—in 2021 and 2022, coupled with rising demand for installed solar PV, contributed to soaring panel prices worldwide. As China dominates both the production and processing of polysilicon into PV modules, Chinese manufacturers have been increasingly able to undercut the competition on price.
[...]
European countries are desperate to get their hands on affordable solar infrastructure to advance their renewable energy targets, decarbonize, and avoid paying elevated prices for new capacity. Although efforts are underway to build a reliable solar supply chain in Europe, the need for panels now means leaders cannot wait until 2025 or later to buy European.

Energy policies and the green transition continue to drive demand for European solar PV growth. Since 2022, the Green Deal Industrial Plan (GDIP), RePowerEU, and the Net Zero Industry Act have all set ambitious solar PV goals. These goals include a target for 30 GWdc of European manufacturing along the entire value chain by 2025 and 40% of installed solar PV being manufactured within the continent by 2030.

archive "We cannot change the geology in Europe"

Despite these ambitious goals, between 2019 and 2022, locally-made modules could not keep pace with the growth of imported panels. From 2021 to 2022, the amount of Chinese solar modules imported by European countries increased by 112% to about 87 GWdc. The installation rate in these countries has yet to meet anticipated levels, resulting in a sizeable gap of almost 47 GWdc in 2022 in shipped versus installed modules.
[...]
The imports are heading to several key destinations, including the Netherlands, Spain, Germany, Poland, France, Greece, Italy, and the UK. The Netherlands was the standout leader in Chinese PV imports in 2022, bringing in almost 45 GWdc alone, more than ten times the amount of panels installed domestically across the year. Spain, Germany and France also imported more panels from China than they installed from any source. Greece has a similar profile to the Netherlands but on a smaller scale, with the country installing the equivalent of only 15% of the capacity imported from China.
[...]

Take the electric vehicles sector. It is a crucial industry for the clean economy, with a huge potential for Europe. But global markets are now flooded with cheaper Chinese electric cars. And their price is kept artificially low by huge state subsidies.

This is distorting our market.

And as we do not accept this from the inside, we do not accept this from the outside. So I can announce today that the Commission is launching an anti-subsidy investigation into electric vehicles coming from China.

..."We don't want to see Chinese electric vehicles benefiting from our climate policies," [EPP-CSU leader Manfred] Weber told MEPs after von der Leyen's annual address. "We have to activate our trade defense instruments to avoid another solar panel attack [sic]," he added, referring to a previous trade fight that devastated Europe's solar power players a decade ago....

Commenting on the market dynamics, Research Analyst Abhik Mukherjee said, "EV sales in Europe are increasing at a slower pace than expected. But since many European brands target to convert most of their models to electric by 2025, we expect EV sales to accelerate in the next two years. European automakers need to keep a close eye on Chinese competitors. Most Chinese brands, like BYD, Lynk, NIO and XPeng, made their European debut in 2021, selling just under 21,000 EVs cumulatively. In 2022, Chinese brands sold almost 58,000 EVs, capturing over 2% of the market. With the current trajectory, their share is expected to double to around 5% by the end of 2023."

..."The stakes are high for Europe's automotive industry: four out of five cars sold in Europe are assembled locally," the ["Chinese Challenge to the European automotive industry"] report added.

Having recognized the potential of electric vehicles 15 years ago, China has since invested vast resources in building a competitive electric vehicle ecosystem manufacturing. As a result, it now leads the global EV landscape, selling over double the number of BEVs in 2022 compared to Europe and the US combined, while also holding a competitive edge in nearly all aspects of the BEV value chain. Because they account for more than 80% of EV sales in [China], Chinese brands have seen their [domestic] market shares climb from less than 40% in 2020 to close to 50% in 2022, while the country's automotive trade balance went from a -USD31bn [export] deficit to a +USD7bn surplus over the same period. At the same time, already in 2022, three of Europe's best selling BEVs were Chinese imports. As BEVs eventually grow to account for all new car sales in Europe, Europe-made cars are likely to be substituted by those made in China...

"Europe is also the world's export powerhouse in the [automotive] sector, with car trade generating between 70 billion and 110 billion euros in trade surplus for the European economy every year over the past decade."

The [Allianz SE] report said the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) had made Europe a target for Chinese exports.

archive EU welcomes correction to US green subsidies act

While Europe remains comparatively open to imported EVs— Tesla for instance, accounts for 20 percent of fully-electric car sales in Europe—the U.S. is "set to be a much tougher market to crack for Chinese vehicles" because of the IRA, the report said....

This would represent a fast step forward for the Chinese car brands, as their cars accounted for less than 10 per cent of the 1.1 million battery electric vehicles (BEVs) sold in Europe last year [2022], according to a report released by KPMG on Monday in Shanghai at China's first Carbon Neutrality Expo.

Allianz| Automotive industry unplugged (16.06.23)
China-made vehicles make further inroads. Three made-in-China battery-electric vehicles have been some of the category's best-selling models year-to-date, bringing the share of Chinese imports to about 3-4% of total registrations (compared to virtually zero in 2019).

Of new EVs sold in Europe so far this year, 8% were made by Chinese brands, up from 6% last year and 4% in 2021, according to autos consultancy Inovev. And more are coming. At least 11 new, < wipes tears > mass-market, China-made EVs will launch in Europe by 2025, according to a study by Allianz. Western automakers are rattled, with Carlos Tavares, the CEO of Peugeot-to-Fiat carmaker Stellantis [!], warning last month of an "invasion" of cheap Chinese EVs in Europe.

archive batteries that are eligible for US tax credits

The average price of an EV in China was less than 32,000 euros ($35,000) in the first half of 2022 compared with around 56,000 euros in Europe, according to researchers at Jato Dynamics. But Chinese brands are likely to struggle to sell cars in Europe as cheaply as at home.

Logistics, sales taxes, import duty and meeting European certification requirements all add costs, said Spiros Fotinos, Europe CEO for Chinese brand Zeekr, owned by Geely.

archive a special free-trade partner status for critical minerals

Surveys indicate most potential EV buyers in Europe do not recognise Chinese brands. Those who do are hesitant to purchase a Chinese car—reminiscent of Japanese and South Korean automakers' decades-long struggle to win trust and adapt to European tastes. Just 14% of 1,629 German consumers surveyed by YouGov in 2022 were aware of BYD, the world's second-largest EV maker after Tesla. A total of 17% had heard of premium brand Nio, while 10% knew of Geely's Lynk & Co and 8% of XPeng. Of the 95% of consumers aware of Tesla, 10% would consider buying one as their next car, the survey showed. But among those aware of Chinese brands, 1% or fewer would consider buying one.

[Alexander Klose, Exec VP of Chinese EV brand] Aiways said it decided against advertising its Chinese heritage due to concerns that consumers would be hesitant about buying Chinese-made products. Several Chinese carmakers have secured five-star safety ratings under Europe's safety standards, going well beyond legal requirements to try to overcome customer doubts.

This European industrial policy also requires common European funding. This is why—as part of our proposal for a review of our budget—we proposed the STEP platform. With STEP we can boost, leverage and steer EU funds to invest in everything from microelectronics to quantum computing and AI. From biotech to clean tech. Our companies need this support now—so I urge for a quick agreement on our budget proposal.

DW | ECB raises interest rates by 0.25%, 14 Sep

"Based on its current assessment, the Governing Council considers that the key ECB interest rates have reached levels that, maintained for a sufficiently long duration, will make a substantial contribution to the timely return of inflation to the target," the ECB said in a statement. "The Governing Council's future decisions will ensure that the key ECB interest rates will be set at sufficiently restrictive levels for as long as necessary," it added.

This will help to bring down inflation [rates] further. Our past interest rate hikes are already having an < wipes tears > effect on the economy. Our future decisions will depend on how we see the economy and inflation [rates] developing.

The economy will stay weak for a while
Businesses are investing less and their exports are down. Manufacturing is struggling, and services are now starting to falter. But over time, lower inflation [rates] and higher incomes should help the economy recover.

Inflation is falling but is still too high
Food is still getting more expensive, even though prices are not rising as much as before. Prices for services, especially holidays and travel, are keeping inflation [rates] high. In the coming months, inflation should drop further.

People and businesses are taking out fewer loans
As loans become more expensive, people and firms are borrowing less....

The changes put the main refinancing operations rate—the fee ordinarily charged to commercial lenders to borrow money and arguably the most important of the three—at 4.25%. The deposit facility, paid to lenders that deposit funds with the ECB on a short-term basis, rose to 4%. And the marginal lending facility, paid by commercial lenders for short-term liquidity injections, was put at 4.5%....

...The September ECB staff macroeconomic projections for the euro area see average inflation at 5.6% in 2023, 3.2% in 2024 and 2.1% in 2025. This is an upward revision for 2023 and 2024 and a downward revision for 2025. The upward revision for 2023 and 2024 mainly reflects a higher path for energy prices. Underlying price pressures remain high, even though most indicators have started to ease. ECB staff have slightly revised down the projected path for inflation excluding energy and food, to an average of 5.1% in 2023, 2.9% in 2024 and 2.2% in 2025. The Governing Council's past interest rate increases continue to be transmitted forcefully. Financing conditions have tightened further and are increasingly dampening demand, which is an important factor in bringing inflation back to target. With the increasing impact of this tightening on domestic demand and the weakening international trade environment, ECB staff have lowered their economic growth projections significantly. They now expect the euro area economy to expand by 0.7% in 2023, 1.0% in 2024 and 1.5% in 2025....

We have seen real bottlenecks along global supply chains, including because of the deliberate policies of other countries. Just think about China's export restrictions on gallium and germanium—which are essential for goods like semiconductors and solar panels. This shows why it is so important for Europe to step up on economic security.