Chinese module manufacturers exported 29.67 GW of panels in the first two months of this year, according to new figures released by China's General Administration of Customs and study of PV research firm InfoLink Consulting.
Total exports for January totaled 14.85 GW, with a 32% increase compared to December 2022 and 55% growth on January 2022. In February, module exports reached 14.82 GW, with a slight decrease compared to January and a 6% increase compared to February 2022.
Europe imported 8.6 GW in each month, which represents an increase of 120% and 48% respectively compared to the same periods a year earlier. In 2022, Europe imported a total of 86.6 GW of PV modules from China.
In the Asia-Pacific market, China's PV panel exports reached 2.5 GW and 3.1 GW in January and February respectively, a decrease of 13% and 47% compared to the same months last year.
The year-on-year decrease was mainly due to India, which in 2022 imported about 8.9 GW of PV modules from China, but 8.1 GW of them were imported in the first quarter before the basic customs duty (BCD) tariff on imported equipment tariff was introduced.
After the first quarter of last year, demand for Chinese modules in India rapidly declined, with an average monthly import of only 88 MW. However, demand in India significantly rebounded at the beginning of 2023, with 395 MW imported from China in January and 643 MW in February.
In the Americas, Brazil was the main importing country, accounting for 70% of the overall imports to the region.
The Middle East saw an increase of more than 200% in PV module imports from China in the January-February period, with the UAE and Saudi Arabia accounting for 62% of the region's overall market. The source of demand is mainly based on several large utility-scale projects, and there is still more solar under construction in the region.
In Africa, South Africa is the main source of demand, accounting for 61% of the total imports to the region. Despite low demand for Chinese PV modules in Africa, South Africa imported a total of 571 MW from China, three times more than in the same period last year.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
3 comments
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.