Chinese exports of solar power equipment extended their declining trend this year with a 6.4% drop in September from a year earlier, while China’s authorities consider export controls and/or bans on a dozen solar manufacturing technologies.
The world’s top solar manufacturer shipped 1.21 million metric tons of solar cells and panels last month, according to customs data cited by Reuters.
While the exports rose from August, they were over 6% lower compared to September last year, and contributed to a year-to-date slump of 9.5% in overseas solar equipment shipments.
China’s exports of solar cells and panels began to drop in May after Beijing removed the local export tax rebate as of April 1, which depressed export volumes. The world’s top solar panel and cell manufacturer scrapped, effective April 1, 2026, export tax rebates for the value-added tax (VAT) of photovoltaic products, including solar cells and panels. China will also withdraw the export tax rebate on battery products, effective January 1, 2027. The Chinese tax policy change was widely expected to slow solar exports from April 2026 onwards, as the policy raises export costs and makes Chinese PV products more expensive internationally.
China is now proposing a trade policy that could limit its exports of some solar technologies, including those for manufacturing high-efficiency solar products such as perovskite, tandem solar, polysilicon, wafer, and crystalline-silicon cell production tech.
The proposed changes are part of a wider effort to limit exports of as many as 40 technologies in the artificial intelligence, biomedicine, and solar industries to “safeguard national security, protect core technologies and uphold international trade rules.”
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Science and Technology last week launched a one-month consultation period for public opinion on the proposed adjustments to China’s catalog of technologies that are subject to export bans or restrictions.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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