The Chinese government has imposed final anti-dumping duties of up to 113.8 percent on imports of Korean polysilicon, a key component of solar cells.

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce issued a final set of anti-dumping rates ranging from 4.4 to 113.8 percent, up from the previous 2.4 to 48.7 percent on Korean imports, according to the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) on Tuesday.

Polysilicon is a critical raw material of photovoltaic cells that converts light to electricity.

Korean polysilicon exports to China jumped nearly tenfold from 2008 to 2011, prompting the Chinese authorities to start an anti-dumping probe in 2011. The year-long investigation resulted in punitive tariffs of between 2.4 and 48.7 percent on Korean polysilicon from 2014.

But Chinese manufacturers demanded a reinvestigation, claiming they were continuing to suffer substantial harm from rising imports from Korea.

The heightened duties would deal a heavy blow to most Korean players except Hanwha Chemical, whose rates have been lowered from 12.3 percent to 8.9 percent.

By Woo Je-yoon and Kim Hyo-jin

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