EUROPE: Refrigerant manufacturer
Honeywell has repeated claims that European HFC imports are increasing
despite the F-gas phase down.
Earlier this year, Honeywell claimed that
over 10 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent HFCs were illegally imported
into the EU in 2015 – the first year of the phase down when the
allocation was 182.5 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent. This year is
supposed to see a 7% reduction but Honeywell claims some countries are
now importing as much as 2.5 times as much as they were pre-phase-down.
Dr Patrick Amrhein, Honeywell’s fluorine products marketing director for EMEA, said: “This is a major issue we are facing.”
Having recently run the numbers again on
import statistics, he said: “What we can see is the amount of
refrigerant coming from China into the European Union increasing
year-over-year. When you look at the phase down mechanism this should
not happen.”
He also claims that the problem seems to
be with certain countries. “Traditional importers like the Netherlands,
France, UK, Belgium, these countries are more or less stagnating or are
on a small decline. What’s new is that countries such as Poland,
Hungary, Greece, the Balkan areas, there you see increases compared to
previous years of 140-160%. The interesting question is who sits there
that holds all the quota?” he mused.
“We see a disconnect between the
legislation and its implementation at a national level,” Dr Amrhein said
in May. “I don’t think there is currently a system in place which
allows the national customs authorities to really check if an importer
has quota or if the importer who does have quota has exceeded the amount
of imports they can bring in.”
According to the F-gas regulation, the
consequences for producers and importers exceeding their allocated quota
is a deduction of double the excess from the company’s quota the
following year.
BELGIUM: One of the leading refrigerant
manufacturers has claimed that over 10 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent
HFCs were illegally imported into the EU in 2015.
Last year was the first year that the
European Union’s phase down under the F-gas regulations came into force,
allocating registered companies a quota from the total 182.5 million
tonnes of F-gas allowed to be placed on the market.
Honeywell maintains that this amount has
been exceeded by what it describes as illegal imports. If true, the
illegal amount is equivalent to more than 5% of the total allocation and
based on CO2 equivalents would represent, for example, well over 2,500
tonnes of R404A or 7,700 tonnes of R134a.
The concerns are also backed by another
leading refrigerant supplier Chemours who said that they, too, had seen
market indications of illegal imports.
Honeywell says it has based its estimated
calculations on publicly available sources, such as export data from
China, and compared these with EFCTC (Cefic) data. Honeywell has also
heard of instances of companies without quota bringing in material and
offering it for sale.
“As Honeywell is a significant market
player, we also used our own estimations of imports of the biggest
market players,” Dr Patrick Amrhein, Honeywell’s fluorine products
marketing director for EMEA, told the Cooling Post. “This
resulted in a figure showing material which cannot be assigned to any
market player – and therefore has to come to the market outside of the
quota.”
However, the real scale of the trade in
illegal material could be far higher and does not include any
refrigerant shipments that may have been smuggled into Europe or
mis-declared.
“The amount of material coming into
Europe far exceeds what should be coming in,” said Dr Amrhein. “I think
10 million tonnes is a conservative figure. Our estimation is that it is
larger.”
A total of 413 companies were assigned
quotas in 2015, 334 of them were new entrants. Each quota holder’s
figures are audited at the end of March each year. The consequences for
producers and importers exceeding their allocated quota is a deduction
of double the excess from the company’s quota the following year.
Earlier this year, the Cooling Post revealed that
imports of HFC refrigerants doubled in 2014, suggesting huge
stockpiling in the run-up 2015 to the introduction of F-gas quotas.
Lack of control
Honeywell has also raised concerns at what it perceives as a lack of control or implementation at customs points.
“We see a disconnect between the
legislation and its implementation at a national level,” said Dr
Amrhein. “I don’t think there is currently a system in place which
allows the national customs authorities to really check if an importer
has quota or if the importer who does have quota has exceeded the amount
of imports they can bring in.”
The concerns over the potential for
illegal imports are shared by Chemours. “We have seen market indications
of illegal imports as mentioned by Honeywell,” said Lene Stosic,
Chemours’ senior communications manager, EMEA.
“We share the commitment to supporting the F-gas industry in the
successful implementation of the cap and phase down.”
Authorised dealer programme
To reassure the market, Honeywell has
implemented an Authorised Dealers programme to help purchasers ensure
they are buying refrigerants that comply with the European F-gas
regulations.
“This programme is part of Honeywell’s
ongoing efforts to help customers ensure they are using refrigerants and
other materials that comply with this new regulation,” said Dr Patrick
Amrhein. “By buying from a Honeywell Authorised Dealer, customers can
avoid putting their businesses at legal risk of violating the regulation
by using an illegal refrigerant. Honeywell is continuing to build
awareness of the risks and legal consequences of using illegally
imported refrigerants, and is working closely with EU authorities to
actively prevent illegal imports to the EU market.
“We are not the policemen of the
industry, we are just responding to requests from our customers who want
to buy genuine high quality material that is fully compliant with the
F-gas regulations,” Dr Amrhein maintained.
EUROPE: Shocking new figures reveal evidence of huge
European stockpiling of HFC refrigerants in advance of the 2015 F-gas
quotas.
The startling figures for 2014, just
released by the European Environment Agency, show that imports of HFC
refrigerants into Europe almost doubled to 122,781 tonnes (260.9Mt CO2‑equivalent) in 2014, the year before quotas under the European F-gas regulations were introduced.
This huge stockpile is thought to be the
reason why refrigerant prices, particularly for the higher GWP gases,
have not risen as predicted by many industry experts.
While bulk imports of fluorinated gases
had been declining from 2010 to 2013, HFC bulk imports in 2014 were
approximately 90% above 2013 levels, both by mass and CO2‑equivalent.
The figures are based on submissions by
companies on the production, import and export of fluorinated greenhouse
gases in the European Union for 2014, the first year of compulsory
reporting under the new F-gas regulation 517/2014.
Leaving aside the other fluorinated
greenhouse gases (SF6, PFCs, etc), HFCs are said to account for about
95% of the increase in bulk imports and around 75% of all reported
imports were destined for use as refrigerants for refrigeration, air
conditioning and heating purposes.
Although supplies intended for use in air
conditioning and refrigeration had been static or declining in recent
years, 2014 saw a huge increase to 92,958 – a 73% increase on the
previous year and a 36% increase on the peak year for HFC supply in
2010.
In contrast to the rise in imports, EU
production of HFCs declined for the fourth consecutive year. Production
measured in tonnes experienced a year-on-year decline of 15%, or 11% in
terms of CO2‑equivalents,
to 31,050 tonnes. Reportable HFC production in Europe was limited to
just six HFCs – 134a, 365mfc, 143a, 32, 227ea and 23. The supply of the
other 19 fluorinated gases used in the EU in 2014 was provided by imports.
Reporting of imports and production became compulsory in
2014 and led to a significant rise in reporting companies. For 2014, the
number of reporting companies tripled compared with 2013 to 468. The
European Environment Agency attributes the increase to the addition for
the first time of importers of products and equipment containing
reportable fluorinated gases and to new bulk importers of gases.
