Halons Technical Options Committee

1.0Global Production and Consumption Phase-out of Halons

As of January 1, 2010, halon production and consumption, as defined by the Montreal Protocol, for fire protection ceased. Additionally, there has been no essential use halon production since 2000 (as authorised by Decision VIII/9).

Based on the 2009 Article 7 data reported to the Ozone Secretariat as of September 2010, halons were produced for fire protection uses by two countries, and only three countries reported positive consumption of halons in 2009. Two of these were the remaining producers of halons and the other one was a net importer of halons. Eight Parties, who reported consumption in 2008, have not yet reported their 2009 Article 7 data. The European Union (EU) and the United States of America (USA) reported negative production and consumption data, which indicates the net destruction of halons.

Halon 1301 (CF₃Br) continues to be produced in China and France for use as a feedstock in the manufacture of the pesticide Fipronil (CAS 120068-37-3). The current total halon feedstock production quantities in these countries are not known to the HTOC, but have been increasing annually in China since 2005. As production for feedstock uses is not controlled by the Montreal Protocol (MP), it can be assumed that the production will continue for as long as there is a demand for Fipronil.

1.1Halon Production

Table 1-1 below shows the countries that have reported production for the period from 2005 to 2009. As seen from the table, only China and South Korea are reporting positive production figures, while the reports from other countries show negative production figures. Owing to the MP definition of production (see Annex B), positive production shows actual production for uses controlled by the MP, i.e., fire protection, while negative figures represent a net destruction of halons. NR indicates not yet reported in all tables.

Table 1-1: Reported production of halons by Parties as of September 2010
(ODP tons)

Party	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
Belgium	-198.1	-123.0	-49.8	0.0	NR
China	5,475.8	995.0	988.3	977.3	985.6
Czech Republic	0.0	-2.0	0.0	0.0	NR
Finland	-100.0	-28.0	-46.0	-50.7	NR
France	0.0	-764.3	-392.7	-297.2	NR
Hungary	-30.9	0.0	-18.1	-27.4	NR
Netherlands	-7.2	-24.0	-2.0	-207.3	NR
South Korea	855.0	1,470.0	1,104.0	737.0	1,122.0
Sweden	-69.0	-175	-69.4	-12.4	NR
United Kingdom (UK)	145.4	-202.0	-510.0	0.0	NR
USA	0.0	0.0	-1.3	-224.4	NR

China produced both halon 1211 and halon 1301 in 2005. The halon 1211 production stopped by end of 2005, and from 2006 until end of 2009 China only produced halon 1301. South Korea produced both halon 1211 and halon 1301 in the period from 2005 to end of 2009.

1.2Reported Halon Consumption

As shown in Table 1-2, the reported halon production and consumption data were the same from 2008–2009 for China and from 2005-2009 for South Korea, which, owing to the MP definition of consumption (see Annex B), indicates that no halons were exported. However, as exports of halon contained in products, i.e., halon fire extinguishers and halon fire extinguishing systems, are not controlled by the MP, some halons may have been exported as fire extinguishers and or fire extinguishing systems.

Table 1-2: Production and consumption of halon 1211 and 1301 by halon producing Parties (ODP tons)

Party	2005		2006		2007		2008		2009
	Prodn.	Cons.	Prodn.	Cons.	Prodn.	Cons.	Prodn.	Cons.	Prodn.	Cons.
China	5,475.8	4,516.5	995.0	161.0	988.3	594.5	977.3	977.3	985.9	985.9
S. Korea	885.0	885.0	1,470.0	1,470.0	1,104.0	1,104.0	737.0	737.0	1,122.0	1,122.0

Table 1-3 shows consumption data reported by the Parties. As noted above, neither China nor the South Korea exported any halons in 2008 and 2009, which indicates that stockpiles of new halons might still exist in various places.