对来自中国的逆变器进口长期受到威胁的关税的判断日已经到来,并且与业内许多人所担心的一样糟糕或者更糟。正如美国贸易代表罗伯特•莱因希泽和美国总统唐纳德特朗普今晚宣布的那样,美国正在通过301条款对大约2000亿美元的中国进口产品征收关税,包括逆变器和非锂电池。
这些关税将于9月24日以10%开始,并将在2019年1月1日增加至25%。在与记者的电话会议中,高级政府官员指出,延迟是为了让依赖这些进口的公司转移供应链的时间。
对于供应美国太阳能市场的逆变器制造商来说,这种转变已在进行中。Sungrow可以选择从其位于印度的3 GW逆变器工厂运输产品,依赖合同制造商Flex的Enphase 正在将生产转移到墨西哥。然而,由于该工厂预计在2019年第二季度之前不会生产微型逆变器,这意味着Enphase将承担长达9个月的进口关税。
总体而言,由于逆变器占整个项目成本的一小部分,因此预计这些关税对各个逆变器供应商的市场份额的影响要大于太阳能市场。
附原文
The day of judgement for the long-threatened tariffs on imports of inverters from China has arrived, and it is as bad or worse than many in the industry feared. As announced by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and U.S. President Donald Trump this evening, the United States is imposing tariffs on roughly $200 billion worth of Chinese imports, including inverters and non-lithium batteries, through Section 301.
These tariffs will start on September 24 at 10%, and will increase to 25% on January 1, 2019. In a call with reporters senior administration officials noted that the delay is intended give time for companies dependent upon these imports to shift supply chains.
For inverter makers supplying the U.S. solar market, such shifts are already underway. Sungrow has the option of shipping product from its 3 GW inverter factory in India and Enphase, which is reliant on contract manufacturer Flex, is shifting production to Mexico. However, as this factory is not expected to be producing microinverters until the second quarter of 2019, this means that Enphase will be hit with up to nine months of import duties.
Overall the impact of these tariffs is expected to be greater on the market share of individual inverter suppliers than the solar market writ large, as inverters make up a small portion of overall project costs.