The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) announced that it has made affirmative preliminary determinations in its antidumping duty investigations of imports of UAN from Russia and Trinidad and Tobago.
DOC found that Russian UAN imports were dumped into the U.S. market at rates ranging from 9.15-127.19 percent, and Trinidadian UAN imports at a rate of 63.08 percent. As a result, DOC will impose cash deposit requirements on imports of UAN from Russia and Trinidad based on the preliminary rates of dumping.
For Russia, the 9.15 percent rate is for the Acron Group, 23.98 percent for EuroChem, 127.19 percent for Kuibyshev Azot and SBUT Azot, and 15.48 percent for all others. Trinidad only has one producer, Methanol Holdings (Trinidad) Ltd. (MTHL), and the rate is 63.08 percent. While UAN and other major fertilizer prices soared in 2021, the period of investigation was April 1, 2020, through March 31, 2021.
Additional countervailing duty (CVD) cash deposit requirements are already in place based on DOC’s previous preliminary finding that Russian UAN imports are unfairly subsidized at rates ranging from 9.66-9.84 percent, and that Trinidadian UAN imports are unfairly subsidized at a rate of 1.83 percent (GM Aug. 20, 2021).
DOC and the International Trade Commission are expected to make final determinations in the summer of 2022.
“Commerce’s affirmative preliminary antidumping and countervailing duty determinations not only address unfair trade practices that have harmed the U.S. UAN industry and its workers, but also help ensure that this vital product remains readily available to U.S. farmers from reliable domestic suppliers,” said Tony Will, President and CEO of CF Industries Holdings Inc., Deerfield, Ill.
“We appreciate the thorough, fact-driven investigations conducted by Commerce professionals and their impartial application of U.S. law,” he added. “We look forward to participating in the post-preliminary phase of these investigations.”
DOC initiated the AD and CVD investigations in July 2021 (GM July 23, 2021) in response to petitions filed by CF (GM July 2, 2021) alleging that unfairly dumped and subsidized imports of UAN from Russia and Trinidad are injuring the U.S. UAN industry.