Starting from April 1, 2026, the export tax rebate policy for products related to the new energy industry will usher in major adjustments.
According to relevant policy arrangements, the export value-added tax rebate for photovoltaic-related products has been directly reduced from the current 9% to 0; the export value-added tax rebate rate for battery products has been reduced from 9% to 6% from the same date to December 31 this year, and will be completely canceled from January 1, 2027.
In recent years, affected by excessive competition, the export prices of China’s photovoltaic industry products have continued to fall, showing a trend of “volume increases and prices decrease”.
Similar signs of competition have emerged in the energy storage battery industry.
This adjustment to the export tax rebate policy is regarded as an important measure to comprehensively rectify the “involving competition” in the industry.
Chen Haisheng, director of the Institute of Engineering Thermophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and chairman of the Zhongguancun Energy Storage Technology and Industry Alliance, pointed out that in the past few years, there has been a phenomenon of “involution and externalization”. Low-price competition and only pursuit of scale have resulted in companies with meager profits and no money for research and development.
Even if it captures the market in the short term, it will reduce long-term innovation capabilities and affect Chinese-made brands.
However, from the perspective of decision-makers, anti-involution is only a means, and promoting development is the goal. It is necessary to bring competition back to a healthy and healthy track and promote high-quality and sustainable development.
Yang Rui, the global leader in energy storage in intelligent computing centers and chairman of Shuangdeng Co., Ltd., said that policy adjustments are a signal to companies.
Energy storage companies must make three changes: from “competing on price” to “competing on capabilities,” focusing on product strength, system capabilities, and delivery capabilities; from “export thinking” to “local thinking” and doing local manufacturing, services, and ecology; from “selecting cyclical industries” to “building new infrastructure” and finding integration points with the new generation of digital economy.
As for the impact of policy adjustments on related industries and enterprises, Chen Haisheng believes that in the short term, the entire industry will face direct transmission of cost pressures.
It used to be that the tax rebate was part of profits, or even the cost of companies giving away profits to seize the market. Now that tax rebates have been cancelled, companies must either digest the costs internally or renegotiate prices with overseas customers. This will inevitably involve a game and balance process.
But in the long term, the industry will be forced to shift from “price competition” to “value competition,” driving a large number of companies to upgrade their technological levels, increase product value, and move toward high-quality development.
Yang Rui said that in the future, the business choices of relevant enterprises will be more driven by the market.
As the technological roadmap develops towards diversified and complementary technologies, the real competition among enterprises has just begun.
The new energy industry is working hard to “climb up” despite the “recession” of export tax rebates. Through policy guidance and the transformation of enterprises themselves, it is expected to achieve healthier and more sustainable development.
