Malaysian solar companies expected to face falling demand due to higher US tariffs: analyst

Raising US tariffs on solar equipment exported from Southeast Asia to protect its domestic industry will likely reduce demand for such products from Malaysia, according to an industry leader.

The US Commerce Department on Wednesday announced an increase in tariffs on solar equipment exported by Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. The move follows its initial findings on the unfair use of government subsidies to produce solar equipment sold by companies in the four countries.

U.S. authorities on May 15 launched an anti-dumping investigation into solar equipment exported from Southeast Asia following complaints by the Trade Committee of the American Solar Manufacturing Alliance about cheap imports threatening to derail the American solar industry.

“A slowdown in solar production in Malaysia will significantly disrupt the local solar supply chain, given that Malaysia is one of the leading suppliers of solar panels to the US market,” said Davis Chong, executive director and head of the management of the Solarvest Holdings group, a leading company in solar energy solutions. .

Malaysian solar equipment shipped to the United States will be subject to a 9.13 percent duty under the new tariff regime, but not as high as the 23.06 percent rate for such exports from Thailand. Vietnam’s solar exports face the lowest hike of 2.85 percent, followed by a tariff of 8.25 percent for Cambodia.

Chong, president of the Malaysian Photovoltaic Industry Association, said some affected solar companies are expected to gradually move their operations to countries facing lower U.S. tariffs than Malaysia.