Solar cells, which are unassembled parts that make up solar panels, made up the remaining 10% of China’s solar exports by value ($2.5 bn). The main export destinations for solar cells were Türkiye (33%), India (17%), Cambodia (15%), Thailand (10%) and South Korea (4%). The remainder of the report analyses exports of assembled modules only.
In 2021, the value of China’s solar PV exports was over USD 30 billion, almost 7% of China’s trade surplus over the last five years. In addition, Chinese investments in Malaysia and Viet Nam also made these countries major exporters of PV products, accounting for around 10% and 5% respectively of their trade surpluses since 2017.
According to Tan Youru, an analyst at BloombergNEF, China exported 212 GW of solar cells and modules in the first 10 months of 2023, some 19 percent more than exports in the whole of 2022. While the value of solar product exports from China was flat in the third quarter, volumes rose month-on-month, thanks to lower module prices, he said.
China is the top manufacturer of solar PV products in the world and exports the technology for distributed and utility-scale projects to a diversified market base around the globe. China's solar PV exports rapidly increased from the mid-2000s through 2019 despite setbacks from the global financial crisis and trade protectionism.
China's trade value for solar PV module exports increased to $18.1 billion in 2018 from $16.3 billion in 2017, and the average value of solar PV exports by month have continued to rise through the end of 2019 (Fig. 1).
Special Report on Solar PV Global Supply Chains Solar PV is a crucial pillar of clean energy transitions worldwide, underpinning efforts to reach international energy and climate goals. Over the last decade, the amount of solar PV deployed around the world has increased massively while its costs have declined drastically.