A couple of year-end announcements from solar majors Trina (NYSE: TSL) and ReneSola (NYSE: SOL) are pointing to a coming flood of new orders for the entire solar panel sector next year, fueled by huge new demand from their home China market. I fully expect we’ll see a steady stream of similar announcements throughout next year and even into 2015, providing a flow of good news for rebounding solar stocks after a 3-year sector downturn. But amid the bright news, potential downside lurks in the risk that payments for some of these mega-orders could be slow to come, as many solar plant operators are big state-owned entities that may lack the funds and skills to pay for and operate all of their ambitious new projects. Read Full Post…
The year 2013 will go down as a major turning point for China’s solar panel makers, with some names emerging as new sector leaders after a prolonged downturn while others quietly disappeared. The latter category saw former leader Suntech (OTC: STPFQ) go bankrupt and LDK (NYSE: LDK) quietly sell off many of its assets, while the former category has seen Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ) and Shunfeng (HKEx: 1165) emerge as names to watch in the future. Canadian Solar in particular has been coming back strong in the second half of this year with a steady stream of good news, including its latest mega-deal to sell panels in China. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on December 3. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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China Mobile (HKEx: 941) To Release 4G Brand, iPhone On December 18 – Report (Chinese article)
China Southern Airlines (HKEx: 1055) Says 4 Executives Under Anti-Graft Probe (English article)
SouFun (NYSE: SFUN) To Launch Financial Services On December 16 (PRNewswire)
Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) To Release Search-Customized Keyboard (English article)
EU Nations Approve Pact With China On Solar-Panel Imports (English article)
I thought I’d get into the Christmas spirit in this first work day after Thanksgiving in the US, so let’s take a look at what solar panel makers LDK (NYSE: LDK) and Trina (NYSE: TSL) are getting in their holiday stockings with the latest company news reports. It seems the struggling LDK won’t be getting much, with word that a Chinese court has added further delays to a case where it is owed $40 million in a business dispute with rival Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ). The news looks a bit better for Trina, whose Christmas stocking is filled with another smaller solar company that it is acquiring as the industry consolidates. Read Full Post…
Asset seizure casts new clouds over Suntech retrench
Someone should write a book about solar panel superstar Suntech (NYSE: STP), whose the incredible rise and spectacular fall has taken yet another intriguing twist with word that some of its major assets have been seized by a court in Italy. The Italian angle is just the latest turn in this international story of a company founded by an Australian-educated Chinese engineer, which once look set to revolutionize the solar energy sector, only to be forced into bankruptcy when the sector plunged into a massive downturn. From a more practical perspective, I suspect this latest development will prolong Suntech’s bankruptcy reorganization, since its creditors may have been hoping to liquidate these Italian assets to repay some of the company’s massive debt. Read Full Post…
Beijing took an important step towards rejuvenating the global solar panel sector last week when it announced new steps that will strictly limit new plant construction. This kind of government-led approach is a good short-term solution, as it will halt the introduction of new supply, which in turn will allow prices to stabilize after more than 2 years of steep declines caused by massive overcapacity. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on September 21-23. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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China To Limit Construction Of New Solar Panel Factories (English article)
The latest signs coming from bankrupt solar panel maker Suntech (NYSE: STP) indicate a Beijing-led overhaul for the struggling sector may not be coming after all, and that local governments and other stakeholders may instead become the main rescue agents for these companies. Reports last year had hinted that Beijing was working on a broad plan to retrench the sector, which was suffering from massive overcapacity. But since then most of the problems at the weakest major player LDK (NYSE: LDK), have been handled by the local government and other stakeholders in its home province of Jiangxi. Now the same appears to be happening at Suntech, which was forced into bankruptcy in March. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on July 6-8. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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China was on holiday much of this week for the annual Dragon Boat Festival, but there was no respite for the building trade hostilities between Beijing and the EU that are quickly souring bilateral relations. Last week Beijing launched a probe into unfair state support against EU wines and hinted at another similar probe into luxury cars, targeting 2 product areas where European names have successfully tapped the China market. (previous post) Now this week Europe is firing back with a complaint against punitive steel tariffs launched by Beijing, while Britain is making its own worrisome noises about the safety of telecoms equipment from Huawei Technologies. Read Full Post…
China uses domestic market as weapon in western trade wars
After years of relying on exports, China’s new focus on stronger domestic consumption to fuel economic growth is not only helping to diversify its economy but is also becoming a valuable new tool in its trade disputes with the West. Its major trading partners, most notably the US and Europe, may need to pay closer attention to China’s fast-growing domestic market when lodging new trade grievances in the future, or risk seeing their own exporters cut off from millions of increasingly wealthy Chinese consumers. Read Full Post…
