Tag: R-134a

China’s R-134a Producers Accused of Dumping in the U.S.

USITC LogoOn October 22, 2013, an anti-dumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) petition was filed by Mexichem Fluor, Inc. on R-134a gas from China.  Mexichem alleges AD margins as high as 196% and that Chinese producers are benefitting from several subsidies.  Duty liability could begin as soon as January 16, 2014.
AD duties are imposed to offset unfairly priced imports that materially injure or threaten to injure the U.S. industry.  CVD duties are imposed to offset allegedly unfairly priced imports that are subsidized by national, state, or provincial governments that materially injure or threaten to injure the U.S. industry.
On October 24, 2013, the United States International Trade Commission sent a letter to all U.S. R134a stakeholders requesting that they complete a questionnaire on R-134a.  Questionnaires must be completed by November 5, 2013.  The Commission will use this information to “determine whether there is a reasonable indication that an industry in the United States is materially injured or is threatened with material injury, or the establishment of an industry in the United States is materially retarded, by reason of imports from China of R-134a that are allegedly subsidized and sold in the United States at less than fair value.”
For more information, please click here for article on National Law Review web page.

EPA Petitioned to Withdraw Approval of R-134a

The  Environmental  Investigation  Agency  (EIA)  filed  a  petition  requesting that  the  EPA  phase-­out  the  use  of  R134a  in  most  applications  in  the  U.S. According  to  the  EIA,  “HFC-­134a  has  a  global  warming  potential  (GWP)  of 1430  (making  it  1430  times  more  powerful  than  CO2  as  a  greenhouse  gas) and  represents  approximately  half  of  all  HFC  use  in  the  U.S.  Many countries  already  use  or  require  the  use  of  low-­GWP  alternatives  to  HFCs, e.g.,  an  estimated  one  billion+  refrigerators  in  the  EU  and  Asia  run  on hydrocarbons  (GWP  <25)  rather  than  HFCs.   Although  hydrocarbons received  EPA  approval  for  use  in  the  U.S.  in  January,  no  timetable  has yet  been  established  to  require  their  use  in  domestic  refrigerators  and freezers  or  retail  stand-­alone  coolers  and  freezers.”
SOURCE  Environmental  Investigation  Agency Copyright  (C)  2012  PR  Newswire.  All  rights  reserved.