Confused :(

[SRE]

OK I admit it - I'm confused. Wagner are saying that the EU ruling on Chinese imports could be in June and applied retroactively for 90- days ie 8th March. So can someone explain to a mere mortal like me - if I quote this week for a job, install after the 8th March but before June can the govt come back and charge the import duty on the panels installed? Also assuming this isn't the case then are we on for a mad rush until June then having the rest of the summer off?????

Here we go again!!

 

[whinmoor]

I can't believe they would charge import duties to installers. We didn't do the importing - we simply paid the quoted price. I think the suppliers would have to pay any such retrospective duties but they would obviously look to recoup that by charging us more for future supplies.

 

[SRE]

That seems sensible but it does still appear to mean that we're looking at a 20 - 60% import duty from June and Wagner are now asking for 50% deposit with order. I don't use Wagner they cocked up on our orders at the start and I haven't been back but it makes me wonder if others are going to follow. Our reserves aren't as good as they used to be and 50% deposit every time will hurt.

 

[finchy]

Whinmor is right. I think the 50% deposit is a sign of the times. Banks are little nervous with lending (overdrafts) to solar companies (flash in pan business in their eyes), added probably to the fact margins are tight and they probably have a few bad debtors. wonder if we could get a stat of how many solar companies went into liquidation in the last 12 months.

I wouldn't worry SRE, although we could post on the main forum about it. Could boost business from the customers sitting on the fence. I've just had a customer/quote from last August come back !!

 

[SpitfireW'sale]

Stock of modules is very limited in Europe at the moment. All the big manufacturers have run down Rotterdam stock in anticipation of anti dumping laws coming in.

My guess would be Wagner have had issues with installers ordering many more panels than they need to make sure they don't miss out, only to cancel the order when the sales they hoped to get don't materialise, this is frustrating, but happens regularly. If stock is tight this is a big problem, as it sometimes means you have already turned genuine orders away. Putting a deposit on orders removes the companies that are only ordering to reserve stock, I doubt if they are asking their regular customers to do this. We wouldn't as there is a relationship there, but it can be difficult with companies you have not traded with before.

 

[Worcester]

Suppliers / Manufacturers hold and own the stock in rotterdam etc not the distributors, so they don't want to be left with lots of stock in the wrong place that they can't sell due to the death of the solar PV industry in EU because of the anti-dumping regs.

 

[SpitfireW'sale]

The suppliers don't want the stock in Europe mainly because of the potential for the 90 day retrospective tax. If instead their distribution network takes stock direct from China, it would be they who would have to pay a retro tax, not the manufacturer.

This is making a stand off where no one wants to order or hold stock for fear of liability for extra taxes that are not priced in when/if the stock sells. This filters down to installers worried they cannot guarantee stock levels, so they speculatively order.

 

[Gavin A]

can I just say, the whole situation sounds nuts, and I propose a motion to hang all politicians from the nearest lamp posts as a perfectly sane response to what looks like yet another complete balls up by them.

 

[Worcester]

Good news!!! Problem Solved

One of our key suppliers has just promised us panels from their Malaysian factory from March 15th on (they shipped them from there a few weeks ago) same brand same prices...... They have 1MW of 240W poly arriving then.

They are emptying their EU warehouses after 8th March of any stock maunfactured in China and re-routing it to Australia and Japan.

I'm sure other companies will find a similar route to market.