India considers imposing anti-dumping duty on Malaysian solar glass

Indian Government may impose anti-dumping duty of $114.58 per tonne on tempered solar glass imports to provide a level playing field to domestic manufacturers.

The Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR), part of India’s Ministry of commerce and Industry, recommended the duty on ‘textured, tempered – coated or uncoated – solar glass’ imported from Malaysia after Borosil Glass, the only domestic producer of solar glass, filed an application with the government body for the imposition of anti-dumping duty.

In 2017, tempered glass from China attracted an anti-dumping duty in the range of $64.04 – 136.21 per metric tonne, after a similar petition was filed by Borosil.

Solar glass is a component in PV panels and solar thermal applications.

“The authority recommends imposition of defective anti-dumping duty on the [solar glass] imports [from Malaysia] for five years,” the DGRT said in a notification after a investigation.

The Finance Ministry will make the final decision to impose the duty. The DRGT, based on the evidences submitted by Borosil, investigated to determine the impact of alleged dumping of Malaysian solar glass, and recommended anti-dumping duty to remove the alleged injury to domestic manufacturers.

The DGRT found solar glass produced in India was comparable to that imported from Malaysia in terms of physical characteristics; production technology and manufacturing process; functions and uses; product specifications; distribution; and marketing. The two could be substituted technically and commercially, concluded investigators.