BEIJING (Reuters) -China’s solar industry association on Friday called for solar manufacturers to stop selling components below cost and advocated for “survival of the fittest” market competition, but stopped short of calling for capacity closures to address oversupply in the industry.
In a statement following multi-day consultations with the solar industry and a raft of government stakeholders, the China Photovoltaic Industry Association said in a statement on its WeChat account that companies should schedule their production on the basis of market supply and demand and strictly adhere to China’s price law – a nod to the prevailing practices of expanding production to try to maintain market share while undercutting competitors, leading to surging overcapacity.
The statement also called on solar companies to maintain safety and quality standards and abide by intellectual property rules, and asked power-generating firms to reduce the weighting that they give to component prices in the bidding process.
(Reporting by Colleen HoweEditing by Mark Potter)
