SHANGHAI, Jun. 5 (SMM) – The European Commission decided June 5 to levy temporary punitive duties against China’s photovoltaic products between June 6 and August 6, but the average duty will be 47.6% two months later should the two sides fail to figure out any other resolution on the issue. As market had expected the European Commission would pass the proposal of imposing such duties, and as the 11.8% provisional duties are significantly lower than forecast, China’s PV stocks increased remarkably on Tuesday.

SMM believes the ruling will deal a heavy blow to China’s PV industry, with China’s of PV products exported to EU nations shrinking, driving down capacity utilization ratio at China manufacturers. That, combined with rising costs, will lower profitability of manufactuers.