Europe sits on huge HFC stockpile

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 …

Read more