The Ministry of Commerce has received anti-dumping and anti-subsidy complaint from four Chinese major PV companies last Friday, accusing EU manufactures of selling photovoltaic cells below cost. The ministry will have about 30 days to decide whether to start an investigation.

The four companies are LDK Solar Co. Ltd. (NYSE:LDK), GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Ltd. (3800.HK), Daqo New Energy Corp. (NYSE:DQ) and China Silicon Corporation Ltd., which accounting over 80 percent market share of Chinese photovoltaic industry. The companies provided preliminary evidences of dumping and subsidy from EU, which damaged the sector.

The move was a response to the EU anti-dumping complaints on solar imports to various Chinese companies last month, which filed by the German solar giant SolarWorld AG. Since the commission started a vacation since July 25th, the possible investigation may be postponed to September.

China's PV industry has long been suffering from excessive inventories and cash flow shortages. With the EU accounting for 70 percent of China's PV export market, if high tariff are imposed after the EU commission's investigation it would become a critical issue for China's PV industry.

China is the world’s biggest maker of solar panels, a $37 billion global market. Relevant data shows that China has imported PV related materials and equipment worth $7.5 billion, and there are 280 thousand to 300 thousand jobs in the PV or related industries in the EU.

New energy was regarded as the core propeller in the third industry revolution. China has been in the onrush of opportunities in new energy industries including wind power industry and PV industry. U.S. and EU have successively launch investigations on China's two industries. These investigations are not only trade dispute, but also means it's time to grasp advantage in the world market of new energy for each country, said Shi Lishan, deputy director of Renewable Energy and New Energy Department of National Energy Administration.