Europe will remain China Sunergy’s (CSUN) single largest market for its PV modules this year, despite a selective exodus from EU countries by a number of other China-based module manufacturers before the completion of an investigation into anti-dumping by the EU Commission.
Central to CSUN’s commitment to Europe is due to its joint venture solar cell and module assembly facility in Turkey. Management noted in a call to discuss fourth quarter 2012 financial results that it expected to ship between 550MW and 600MW of modules in 2013, 60% within Europe.
Management said that the facility in Turkey acted as a buffer against anti-dumping rulings imposed on Chinese-made solar cells in the US last year, as well as the possibility of penalties imposed within the EU, due to be announced in early June, 2013. Notably, the facility could be a buffer against penalties imposed anywhere else in the world in the future.