China, EU strike deal on trade in polysilicon

Last year, De Gucht announced he would launch a formal investigation into the sales practices of Chinese mobile telecommunications equipment makers, including Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and ZTE Corp, to try to protect the key technology sector of Europe's economy from unfair competition.

Song said the settlement on polysilicon is a follow-up negotiation after the solar panel case and the telecommunication quarrel.

"It is setting a good example for resolving future friction and also preparing for the upcoming European visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping," said Song.

Xi will pay state visits to the Netherlands, France, Germany and Belgium from Saturday to April 1. He will visit the headquarters of the European Union.

Wacker Chemie accounts for practically all polysilicon exports from the EU to China. They had a value of about 700 million euros ($964 million) in 2011.

In January, China released its preliminary findings in this case, claiming that EU polysilicon products were exported at a lower price than sold in Europe, a practice called dumping, and subsidized.

The European Commission has consistently defended the view that the case made by the Chinese authorities was unfounded and that the anti-dumping and anti-subsidy margins provisionally determined by Chinese investigators were inflated.

The EC and Chinese solar panel producers reached a similar agreement in August 2013 in the context of EU's anti-dumping and anti-subsidy proceedings on Chinese solar panels.

The polysilicon probe was widely seen as a response by the ministry to the EU's solar panel investigation, which could endanger Chinese exports valued at about $20 billion a year and more than 400,000 jobs in China.

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