USA – The Department of Trade will take economic sanctions through the customs duties applied for the cooling R134a imports from China.

In May 2014, the Department of Commerce had found that Chinese manufacturers WEITRON INTERNATIONAL REFRIGERATION EQUIPMENT (KUNSHAN) CO LTD and JIANGSU BLUESTAR GREEN TECHNOLOGY CO LTD had practiced dumping and decreased their margins of 133.5 % and 237.3 % respectively.

Three others exporters- SHANDONG DONGYUE CHEMICAL CO LTD, TT INTERNATIONAL CO LTD and ZHEJIANG SANMEI CHEMICAL INDUSTRY CO LTD have also applied a rate of 187.5%. All other producers and exporters in China received a 237.3% level margin of dumping. The investigation was initiated following a complaint lodged by the refrigerant manufacturer MEXICHEM last November, in which it was argued that the R134a from China was sold in the United States at less than its fair value.

The R134a imports from China have increased from 4,369 tons in 2010 to 12,868 tons in 2012, before slightly declining in the first half of 2013.

Besides these significant rises, the imports came at exceptionally low prices. Based on customs data MEXICHEM argued that import prices fell $ 5.280 per ton in 2010 to $ 4130 per ton in 2012 and then dropped to $ 3,400 per ton in the first half of last year.

The value of the American imports of R134a from China was estimated at 34,695 million dollars in 2013.