(Yicai) June 5 -- Trina Solar is pausing production in Thailand for regular maintenance, which takes place annually at its factories in Thailand and Vietnam around this time each year, the Chinese solar giant told Yicai today in response to rumors claiming that the firm is halting manufacturing in Thailand.

Trina’s factories in Thailand and Vietnam mainly serve the US market, where there may be short-term fluctuations in demand, a company executive told Yicai. The Changzhou-based firm will optimize production based on industry and market conditions.

Trina’s US module factory and Indonesia cell and module factory are still under construction. And the Indonesian plant, which is a joint venture with the Southeast Asian country’s state-owned power supplier, should be up and running by the third quarter, the executive said.

Trina, whose factory in the Thai-Chinese Rayong Industrial Zone started operating in March 2016, will enhance its competitiveness in overseas markets as well as develop a broader globalization layout and more localized operations in the long term to shield against global trade risks, it said.

Trade protectionism is still a major hurdle for Trina. The US tariff waiver on imports of photovoltaic products from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, which has been in effect since June 2022, will end tomorrow, the US Department of Commerce said last month. The department is also introducing anti-dumping and countervailing probes into solar cells produced in these four countries. 

“Production by Chinese firms in this country has basically stopped and won’t resume,” the manager of a Chinese photovoltaic company with a production line in Thailand told Yicai.  “Our company's factory in Thailand has also shut down.”

"Larger companies are more pragmatic. They have long abandoned any illusions and have turned to setting up factories in Mexico and the US," he said. Some are choosing to shift capacity to Laos, Myanmar, or Indonesia. 

Editor: Kim Taylor