On February 13, 2020, the Department of Commerce (“Commerce”) announced the initiation of an antidumping duty (“AD”) investigation of imports of difluoromethane, a chemical compound known also as R-32, from the People’s Republic of China. The petitioner in this case is Arkema, Inc., which estimated that 2018 imports of R-32 from China were valued at approximately $21.5 million. See our previous post summarizing Arkema’s R-32 petition for details on the scope of the investigation and for importers and exporters named in the petition.

The U.S. International Trade Commission (“ITC”) is currently scheduled to make its preliminary determination on or before March 9, 2020. If the ITC determines that there is reasonable indication that imports of R-32 from China materially injure or threaten the U.S. domestic industry, the investigation will continue and Commerce will be scheduled to announce its preliminary determination on July 2, 2020. If the ITC’s determination is negative, that imports of R-32 from China do not pose a risk of injury to the domestic industry, the investigation will be terminated.