The new CPIA framework, issued under SAMR and MIIT guidance, aims to make below-cost dumping in photovoltaics measurable and enforceable after only four of 26 listed companies forecast a profit.
China's solar photovoltaic industry has rolled out a unified cost accounting standard after a brutal first half of 2026 in which 22 of 26 listed solar companies that disclosed earnings forecasts expected losses, with total sector losses estimated at 18.3 billion to 21.4 billion yuan. The new group standard, released by the China Photovoltaic Industry Association under the guidance of SAMR (China market regulator) and MIIT (industry ministry), sets common cost-calculation scopes, coefficients and models across polysilicon, wafers, cells and modules. The framework is designed to give regulators and companies a common benchmark for judging whether products are being sold below cost, a long-running problem in an industry hit by oversupply and a price war that has pushed prices in all four core manufacturing segments below cost lines. The CPIA said the standard shifts solar industry governance toward institutionalized and standardized oversight by turning broad accounting principles into operational, verifiable methods for each manufacturing segment. The standard introduces a three-tier system covering cash cost, production cost and full cost. It also tightens treatment of vertically integrated manufacturers by requiring the full cost of one production stage to be carried forward as the raw material cost of the next stage, barring internal transfer pricing below full cost. Industry figures including Song Zhiping, Yan Dazhou, Liu Yiyang and Gao Jifan said the move could make low-price dumping easier to identify, support enforcement of bidding rules, and help companies resist loss-making sales. The release comes after earlier regulatory pressure in 2025 and alongside broader standard-setting in 2026 on module safety, labeling, energy consumption and efficiency. The CPIA said its next step is to promote use of the model, strengthen industry price and cost data collection, and support a fairer competitive environment, while acknowledging that a single standard cannot by itself create demand or remove excess capacity.