EU ProSun Glass, led by GMB Glasmanufaktur Brandenburg GmbH, has filed an anti-dumping complaint with the European Commission against Chinese solar glass manufacturers exporting product to Europe.
The new initiative is said to represent 50% of European solar glass production, with the aim to stem the amount of solar glass being "dumped" on this market by Chinese manufacturers.
In a statement released, EU ProSun Glass said that while demand in Europe for solar glass has only increased by 5% since 2010, Chinese imports have more than tripled. Furthermore, it claims that Chinese manufacturers have a solar glass production capacity of 400 million square meters, with excess capacity more than eight times that of European consumption.
EU ProSun Glass President Ulrich Frei, said: “To make some use of this incredible overcapacity, Chinese producers are dumping their solar glass on the EU market at prices which do not even cover the costs of the raw materials.
"Of course, this means that the Chinese producers are incurring heavy losses on their sales of solar glass, but these are apparently covered by the Chinese government. European solar glass factories, on the other hand, have to follow market economy rules and are being seriously injured by the unfair competition from business rivals in China who have the seemingly endless financial support of their government."
The European Commission now has up to 45 days to determine whether this new complaint is admissible. If it agrees to launch an investigation, it will have nine months to apply provisional anti-dumping measures, and 15 months to apply definitive ones.