REC Silicon ASA (STO:RECO) is cutting by roughly half the production capacity of its Moses Lake polysilicon factory in the US state of Washington, the company said while announcing its second-quarter results on Thursday.

REC Silicon has shut down the Silane III production unit at the site for the remainder of 2015 because of the impact the trade dispute between the US and China has on the firm’s ongoing ability to sell solar-grade polysilicon in the latter country, it explained. The company can no longer access the Chinese market without a 57% duty.

“None of our global competitors outside of the US face this duty, so it is only adversely affecting the two US polysilicon producers that were previously accessing China,” said CEO Tore Torvund. However, he noted that the company is prepared to resume production once the dispute is resolved.

The move is seen to impact 2015 fluidised bed reactor (FBR) production by 2,030 tonnes. The company will use the time to undertake inspections of equipment and preventative maintenance at the Silane III unit.

Meanwhile, the polysilicon and silane gas producer posted a loss from continuing operations of USD 30.9 million (EUR 28.3m) for the second quarter of 2015 versus a profit of USD 24.6 million a year back. The company produced 5,071 tonnes of polysilicon in the period compared to 4,375 tonnes a year back, but sold just 3,817 tonnes compared to 4,221 tonnes. Because of that, second-quarter revenues fell to USD 93 million from USD 126.9 million.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.916)