The antidumping order on the refrigerant R-32 from China has been continued for another five years, and the notice announcing it does not contain the number the decision rests on
The notice that continues the order does not contain the number the order rests on.
Commerce published a continuation of the antidumping duty order on difluoromethane from China on Monday, applicable from 4 August 2026, which keeps the duties in place for another five years. Difluoromethane is R-32, the refrigerant, CAS number 75-10-5. The order has been in force since 11 March 2021, and this was its first sunset review.
What the notice says is that Commerce found revocation would likely lead to continuation or recurrence of dumping, and that it notified the International Trade Commission of the magnitude of the margins likely to prevail. What it does not say is what that magnitude was. For that it gives a citation.
The number is in the May document
Follow the citation to 91 FR 31700, the final results of the expedited first sunset review, published 28 May 2026, and the sentence is there. Commerce determined that if the order were revoked, the dumping margins likely to prevail would be weighted-average margins of up to 221.06 percent.
That figure is a finding about what would happen without the order. It is not the rate anyone is paying. Customs will carry on collecting cash deposits at the rates in effect at the time of entry, which this notice does not restate.
The ITC completed the other half on 4 August, publishing its determination that revocation would likely lead to continuation or recurrence of material injury to an American industry within a reasonably foreseeable time. Both halves have to fail before an order dies. Neither did.
The scope is wider than the chemical
An importer reading only the product name would get this wrong. The order covers R-32 regardless of form, type or purity, and it follows the material through processing: R-32 purified or otherwise processed in a third country or in the United States stays in scope if that processing would not have removed it had it happened in the country of manufacture.
Blends are where the thresholds sit, and there are two of them. A blend of R-32 with anything other than pentafluoroethane is covered where it is 85 percent or more R-32 by volume. A blend containing any amount of pentafluoroethane, which is R-125, is covered where it is more than 52 percent R-32 by volume. In either case only the R-32 component of the mixture is subject to duties, and the same applies where subject and non-subject R-32 have been commingled.
One carve-out runs the other way. Merchandise already covered by the separate antidumping order on hydrofluorocarbon blends from China, in force since August 2016, is excluded from this one.
Commerce lists three tariff headings, 2903.39.2035 for R-32 itself and 2903.39.2045 and 3824.78.0020 for other merchandise in scope, then says what it always says: the headings are there for convenience and customs purposes, and the written description of the scope governs.
The next review is already scheduled in outline. Commerce intends to initiate it no later than 30 days before the fifth anniversary of the ITC's determination.
