Although perhaps not unexpected, if the trading results and projections of one major Chinese manufacturer of solar panels is anything to go by, the export of Chinese manufactured solar panels to Europe is likely to drop during the third quarter of 2013 no doubt as a result of the dispute that has been well documented on this website over recent months.
The sale of solar panels from China to the EU is expected to fall in the third quarter of 2013
(image credit: stantontcady)
Apparently, Canadian Solar Inc (CSIQ.O) produced excellent trading results in the second quarter of 2013, between April to June, no doubt due to trying to generate as many sales as possible prior to any decision being made by the European Commission that may have had a detrimental impact on the business. However, in the present quarter covering the period July to September 2013, the volume of sales has dropped.
As a result, they are forecasting shipments of solar panelling of between 410 megawatts to 430 megawatts in the present quarter. In the second quarter they shipped 455 megawatts. In the first quarter of 2013 they only arranged shipments of 340 megawatts.
It is believed that Chinese exports of solar panels to countries in the European Union will ease off in this quarter in line with the forecast of Canadian Solar Inc. Bearing in mind that exports have already reached 6.5 gigawatts and the recent deal between China and the European Commission will cap such sales at 7 gigawatts this may be inevitable. In 2012, the sale of solar photovoltaic panels from China to the European Union countries amounted to 21 billion euros.
On a worldwide basis, China is forecast to ship between 22 and 23 gigawatts of solar panels in 2013 although it is estimated that the global demand is around 35 gigawatts this year. It will be interesting to see if China look to export increasing numbers of solar panels to other countries such as the likes of Japan.
We will keep you up to date with future results.
