On January 23, 2020, Arkema Inc. filed a petition seeking relief under U.S. antidumping duty laws from unfairly traded imports of R-32 from China. The petition alleges that imports of R-32 from China are sold at less than fair value, causing material injury to the U.S. R-32 industry, and threatening to continue doing so if left unchecked.
Arkema performs a critical function in the U.S. hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) supply chain through the production of
R-32 at its Calvert City, Ky, plant.
In the United States, R-32 is used as a component to produce various HFC blends, which are refrigerants used in a variety of applications, in particular R-410A, a key product in most air conditioning applications
Beginning in 2017, foreign-backed blending operations have entered the U.S. to bypass the existing antidumping duty order on HFC blends from China, which was imposed on August 19, 2016. Because the HFC blends antidumping duty order does not cover components like R-32, blenders can purchase cheap Chinese R-32 to make HFC blends in the U.S. market.
Thus, over the last few years, there has been a significant increase in unfairly traded R-32 imports from China into the United States sold at less than fair value. This loophole in the HFC blends antidumping duty order must be closed in order to protect the U.S. R-32 industry.
As a global refrigerant producer, and the lone R-32 producer in the United States, Arkema supports free and fair competition. Arkema is confident that, once the facts underlying the petition are reviewed by the relevant agencies, Chinese R-32 imports will be deemed by those agencies to compete unfairly in the U.S. market.