Australia looks set to become the latest country to get embroiled in a trade dispute with China over so-called ‘dumping’ practises, following an announcement that the Australian Government Anti-Dumping Commission will carry out an investigation into the matter.

An Anti-Dumping Commission statement published on 14 May, said the watchdog would investigate whether Chinese suppliers had exported “certain crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules or panels” at a price less than their normal value. The commission went on to say that it would investigate whether such practises had occurred and if so, whether they had caused: lost sales revenue, price depression, price suppression or loss of profits/reduced profits.

The investigation will examine the period between July 2012 and December 2013 for evidence of dumping, while it will also look at the Australian market as a whole from the period beginning 1 January 2010, for comparison.

According to the commission, if dumping practises resulting in material injury to Australian business interests have taken place, the country’s parliamentary secretary could impose interim dumping duties. This could in turn lead to retrospective notices for past dumping.

Analysis firm Trendforce, headquartered in Taiwan, commented on the announcement, saying that it expected the Australian solar market to reach around 1.2GW of generation capacity this year, while the production capacity of domestic module producers is still at only around 100MW. This “severe imbalance of supply and demand” means that the vast majority of modules used in the Australian market are imported from abroad.

TrendForce research manager Arthur Hsu carried out some analysis and offered two possible impacts the investigation could have.

Firstly, he pointed out that as much as 70% of module imports to Australia come from China, and that the imposition of duties would leave Australian engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firms and investors with a challenge to keep costs down.

Secondly, Hsu said that Chinese manufacturers would be unwilling to give up on the market in Australia despite the relatively small overall size of the Australian PV sector. Despite the size Hsu said, Australia is still one of the top 10 export markets for Chinese modules.

The most high profile anti-dumping investigation to involve China was last year’s spat with the EU, which led to a minimum pricing settlement. China also slapped trade tariffs on polysilicon exports to China from the EU at the end of April excluding those of Wacker Chemie. India and the US have also initiated proceedings in various forms recently.