U.S. Commerce Department lowers countervailing duty on fertilizers from Russia's PhosAgro to 18.21%

MOSCOW. Nov 13 (Interfax) - The U.S. Department of Commerce has, following an administrative review, lowered the countervailing duty rate on phosphate fertilizer imports from Russia's PhosAgro to 18.21%, the department said.

These are the final results of the investigation, which covered the period from January 1 to December 31, 2022.

The countervailing duty rate for Morocco's OCP was increased to 16.81%. The provisional rate for OCP, published in May, was 14.21%.

The approved rates will be applied retroactively to imports from the companies to the U.S. market in 2022. U.S. customs will also collect cash deposits from importers from now until at least 2026, or when the next administrative review is due, OCP said in a press release.

The Moroccan phosphate producer is considering appealing the decision, and still sees no justification for the tariffs on its shipments to the U.S.

In November 2023, the Department of Commerce, after an administrative review for the period January 1-December 31, 2021, increased the countervailing duty on imports of PhosAgro phosphate fertilizers from 9.19% to 28.5%. The rate for Morocco's OCP was reduced from 19.97% to 2.12%.

Duties on U.S. imports of phosphate fertilizers from Russia and Morocco were imposed in the spring of 2021 following an investigation launched at the request of Mosaic, the country's largest phosphate producer. The company claimed that "large volumes of unfairly subsidized imports from Russia and Morocco" were hurting its business.

Morocco is the largest importer of phosphates to the U.S. market. Russia was second prior to the investigation. According to 2019 data, the volume of phosphate fertilizer imports from Morocco to the U.S. was $700 million (more than 2 million tonnes), and from Russia $300 million (almost 0.8 million tonnes).

The share of the United States in PhosAgro's sales did not exceed 5% of revenue, according to the company.

U.S. farmers had been pushing for lower tariffs from the outset. The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) said the decision had led to a shortage of phosphate fertilizers in the U.S. market and a sharp increase in prices. The NCGA said in a statement that lowering the tariffs on Mosaic products would reduce the financial burden on farmers.