Waaree Energies To Cooperate In Ongoing Probes In US Tariff Evasion
Waaree has in the past cooperated with the US investigations and will continue to cooperate in ongoing investigations, the company said.
Waaree Energies Ltd. on Friday said it will continue to cooperate in ongoing investigations in the US after a report said authorities are probing whether the company evaded anti-dumping and countervailing duties on solar cells from China and other Southeast Asian nations.
"Waaree has in the past cooperated with the US investigations and will continue to cooperate in ongoing investigations. We are a responsible corporate citizen in every country we operate in and we abide by all applicable local laws and regulations," the company said in a statement.
The Mumbai-headquartered company did not specify which investigations it was alluding to in the statement.
The stock fell 7% during early trade. "The movement in the share price is market driven and there is no Unpublished Price Sensitive Information which is pending to be disclosed to the stock exchanges," Waaree Energies said.
US Customs and Border Protection has started a formal investigation of Waaree and Waaree Solar Americas Inc. and imposed interim measures, Bloomberg News reported. The authorities suspect Waaree evaded duties when bringing merchandise into the US.
The investigation is being launched in response to an allegation by the American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing Trade Committee that Waaree was mislabeling solar cells that originated in China as coming from India to avoid tariffs on Chinese solar products, the report said.
Waaree Energies said the US is an important manufacturing base for expansion ambitions.
"Our subsidiary Waaree Solar Americas has an operational 1.6GW module manufacturing facility in Texas, which is being expanded to 3.2 GW. Recently, our US subsidiary has also acquired assets of Meyer Burger, US to further expand manufacturing in US. We are working in a steadfast manner on our commitment to building manufacturing footprint in the US," the statement said.
China is the world's top producer of solar power equipment, and its scale allows it to sell products at cut-throat prices around the world.
Domestic manufacturers of photovoltaic equipment in the US have complained about unfair Chinese subsidies and dumping.
In August, the US Commerce Department launched a new trade probe on modules from Indonesia, Laos, and India after US makers filed a complaint. Steep duties were imposed earlier this year on solar equipment from Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia and Thailand, as per Bloomberg.
