US lowers duties on fertilizers from Morocco but raises level for Russian volumes

HOUSTON (ICIS)–In what is being described as a big win for US corn growers, the US Department of Commerce (DOC) is going to lower duties placed on phosphates imported from Morocco but raised the level for volumes from Russia.

The decision renders that rate from 19.97% to 2.12% and follows an effort by farmer groups to reduce the duties and comes after the agency conducted an administrative review, which is performed annually by retroactively examining the price of shipments and other factors.

On 1 November it was revealed the DOC had voted to raise the countervailing duties (CVD) for product of Russian origin to 28.50%, up from the original rate of 9.19%.

Although this was less than first proposed at 53.29%, there decision to establish a rate of 28.50% is being viewed as substantial and is expected to impact Russian imports.

This begin in 2020 when a rule was made favouring a petition by fertilizer producer Mosaic to impose duties on fertilizers imported from Morocco and Russia.

A titan within the phosphate industry, Mosaic had claimed that unfairly subsidized foreign companies were flooding the US and being presented at extremely low prices.

One group that has been active on the matter since the initial ruling was the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) who launched a self-describe “aggressive campaign” which called on the DOC to reverse the decision and for Mosaic to withdraw its request.

Over the past three years, NCGA has filed an amicus brief, sent a letter to the White House, and has been informing the US Congress about the impact.

“This victory was made possible by corn growers across the country who spoke out against these duties as they faced skyrocketing fertilizer prices and product shortages at the behest of the Mosaic Company,” Harold Wolle, NCGA president said.

“While the best duty on fertilizers is no duty at all, we are nonetheless thrilled that corn growers bearing the brunt of these tariffs will feel financial relief thanks to this decision.”

Thumbnail shows corn, which is grown with fertilizer. Image by Shutterstock.