The US International Trade Commission (ITC) on Jan. 17 again confirmed injury to the domestic phosphate industry from imports from Morocco and Russia. The decision came after a remand (GM Sept. 22, 2023) from the US Court of International Trade (CIT). As it was with their initial decision (GM March 12, 2021), the ITC vote was four to one, with Commissioner David Johanson dissenting.
The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) said it was deeply disappointed in the decision. “The idea that major fertilizer conglomerates were materially injured even as they were posting substantially higher profits during the time in question sounds dubious to me,” said NCGA President Harold Wolle.
“ITC’s decision flies in the face of the US Court of International Trade’s (US CIT) request to seriously reconsider this issue and ignores the negative impact these tariffs continue to have on America’s farmers who are facing higher prices for fertilizers that are critical to the success of their crops,” Wolle added. “We will continue to make a vigorous case for eliminating or lowering these tariffs.”
Also responding to a remand request from the CIT, the US Department of Commerce (DOC) on Jan. 12 agreed to lower duties on Moroccan product from 19.97% to 7.41% for the period Jan. 1, 2019, to Dec. 31, 2019. Last November, DOC lowered the Moroccan rate from 19.97% to 2.12% for the period November 2020 to December 2021 (GM Nov. 3, 2023). At that time, DOC raised the rate for Russia’s PhosAgro from 9.19% to 28.5%. Rates for 2022 are still to be determined.
The CIT will now review the remand decisions and issue a final ruling. The tariffs were requested by The Mosaic Co., which cited unfair trading practices by Moroccan and Russian producers (GM June 26, 2020).