U.S. "double opposition" points to the refrigerant "China team" has repeatedly been blocked

The U.S. Department of Commerce recently announced that it is launching anti-dumping countervailing duties (hereinafter referred to as "double reverse") investigations on refrigerant refrigerant R134a used in China. According to experts from the association, about 50% of the Chinese-made R134a are exported to Europe and the United States, of which the United States accounted for a relatively large amount. Therefore, if the US “double opposition” is established, domestic companies will suffer a large negative impact. How to deal with it and think about it in the industry.

After the US “double counter” spear headed for refrigerants following steel and chemical products, the United States wants to launch a new round of “double reverse” investigations against China.

The reporter learned that the 1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane or similar chemical product of this "Zhongzhao" is a refrigerant product mainly used in automotive air-conditioning systems, and can also be used for the fixing of commercial buildings and houses. Air Conditioning System.

According to the relevant US departmental process, ITC (United States International Trade Commission) is expected to make a preliminary ruling around December 13. If it decides that such products imported from China will cause substantial damage to the US related industries, the US Department of Commerce plans to make preliminary rulings on countervailing duties and anti-dumping duties in February and April next year.

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, on October 22 this year, U.S. Mich. Fluorochemicals Co., Ltd. filed an application for dual anti-survey investigations on tetrafluoroethane products originating in China. They believe that the dumping of 1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane exported by China to the United States is as high as 198.52%, and the subsidy rate is also more than 2%.

This statement was denied by the refrigerant companies in the province. Wei Tangcheng, chairman of Xinxiang Lengfeng Chemical Co., Ltd., said that dumping claims were entirely made by the United States to protect domestic trade. In fact, this situation does not exist. Due to the late transition from R12 difluorodichloromethane to R134a tetrafluoroethane refrigerants, the number of products exported to the United States is not large.

Take this company as an example. Of the refrigerants produced last year, only about 20 tons of tetrafluoroethane was exported, and most of them were hydrocarbon refrigerants. Even so, the U.S. market in export products only accounts for 40%, and the price is lower than in Europe. "The same 13 kilograms of products, European export prices are about $ 10 higher than the United States, not to mention the United States has a large company such as DuPont to produce multiple types of refrigerants, do not know where to dump one." Wei Tangcheng said.

The "Chinese team" has repeatedly been blocked. In fact, domestic refrigerant companies are not the first time outside the country to stop the block. In 2011, a refrigerant company in Zhengzhou encountered similar conditions when exporting related refrigerants to Japan.

“Because domestic refrigerant product technology has been in a weak position, before the international often used the so-called patent to suppress Chinese products. However, with the improvement of technology in the past two years, the domestic refrigerant products have broken the foreign technology blockade, in the hydrocarbon and other refrigerants. There are many achievements in the area, so they also use the so-called dumping arguments to block." The company manager Mr. Liu said.

Recently, there are rumors that the DuPont Group wants to sell chemical blocks. One of the main reasons for this is the decline in the prices of fluorinated compounds and refrigerants and the increase in operating costs, leading to a reduction in operating profits. At the same time, European and American refrigeration companies have begun to move to high-end technology to provide advanced technologies and high-performance materials required for high value-added, high-tech transformation. These strategies undoubtedly involve high-performance chemicals and have also brought markets to Chinese companies.

The reporter learned that refrigerants, especially automotive refrigerants, have always been the strength of Europe and the United States. Companies such as DuPont, Dow, and Western have been maintaining a relatively high share of sales in the refrigerant industry. However, subject to the high costs and the decline of the real economy, many U.S. companies faced the “low price” resistance of Chinese products and they began to lose market share. According to the relevant person in charge of the above-mentioned Zhengzhou company, the same domestic production price of R134a tetrafluoroethane refrigerant is only 370 yuan per can (a tank of 13 kg), while the price in the United States is as high as 800 yuan. Under the influence of huge differences, the company had defeated Dow in the competition because of its price advantage. This situation has caused the United States chemical industry, especially the refrigeration industry, to suffer from poor operating conditions and to angered domestic refrigeration companies.

The industry is changing and the company wants to fight back. “If the “double-reverse” award for refrigerants in the automotive air conditioning system falls, that impact will affect the entire industry chain.” As a buyer of such refrigerants, a large-scale automotive air-conditioning chiller production in Xinxiang The person in charge of the company thinks so. In the face of the upcoming change in the industry, although the final ruling of the “double reverse” has not yet been issued, domestic refrigerant companies have started to take action.

Wei Tangcheng told reporters that there are currently many companies involved in "double reverse" refrigerants holding internal meetings to discuss countermeasures. One of the important ones is joint appeals. At the same time, some companies have also advocated the legal blocking of imported refrigerants in the United States, relying on technological upgrading and product quality to seize the domestic market.

Song Xiangqing, executive vice president and secretary-general of the Henan Provincial Business Economics Association, believes that the 13 US anti-dumping measures initiated by China over the past few years can be seen as an indication of the rise of US trade protectionism. At present, China has formally adopted the dispute settlement mechanism of the World Trade Organization to prosecute the frequent "double reactions" of the US Department of Commerce over the past few years. At the same time, on the one hand, domestic enterprises should prepare relevant appeals. On the other hand, they must gradually change their production processes and technologies, and broaden their channels and the number of high-end products.