The European Union (E.U.) has imposed definitive antidumping duties on urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) imported into its member countries from Russia, the U.S. and Trinidad and Tobago. The measures came into force on Oct.10 and will remain in place for a period of five years. The new duties will be a fixed amount per ton of UAN, and follow provisional measures that were imposed on April 12 (GM April 12, p.1; March 22, p.1).
Definitive Duties
| Country | Company | Definitive Duty Rate (%)1 | Definitive Fixed Duty Rate €/mt |
| Russia | PJSC Acron and all other Russian companies except JSC Azot and JSC Nevinnomyssky Azot | 31.9 | 42.47 |
| Russia | JSC Azot and JSC Nevinnomyssky Azot (both part of EuroChem Group AG) | 20.0 | 27.77 |
| U.S. | CF Industries Holdings Inc. | 23.9 | 29.48 |
| U.S. | All other U.S. companies | 23.9 | 29.48 |
| Trinidad and Tobago | Methanol Holdings (Trinidad) Ltd. | 16.2 | 22.24 |
| Trinidad and Tobago | All other Trinidad and Tobago companies | 16.2 | 22.24 |
1Expressed as a percentage of the CIF Union frontier price, duty unpaid
The provisional measures implemented by the E.U. in April took the form of ad valorem duties ranging from 16.3 percent against Trinidad and Tobago’s Methanol Holdings (Trinidad) Ltd. and all other Trinidad and Tobago producers, and up to 34 percent for all Russian producers except Acron, where a 31.9 percent duty was imposed. U.S. producers, including CF Industries Holdings Inc., had a 22.6 percent provisional duty imposed (GM April 12, p.1; March 22, p.1). These levies were expressed as a percentage of the CIF Union frontier price, duty unpaid.
“Volatility in the import prices of UAN requires the definitive antidumping measures to take the form of duties expressed in euros per mt,” the European Commission said in its Official Journal published Oct. 9.
It said there is “a genuine risk that an ad valorem duty might either be insufficient to eliminate injury when prices are low or unduly hurt the user industry when prices are peaking.”
Because the definitive duty rates for Trinidad and Tobago companies and for Russia (except Acron) are lower than the provisional duties that were imposed, the EU will as a result refund importers the difference with the five-year duties.
The E.U. initiated the UAN dumping investigation into Russian, U.S and Trinidad and Tobago shipments in August 2018, following a complaint filed in June of that year by Brussels-based Fertilizers Europe on behalf of producers that account for more than 50 percent of the E.U.’s output of UAN (GM Aug. 17, 2018).
Imports of UAN into the E.U. from the three countries in the 12 months to June 30, 2018 (the period covered by the E.U. investigation) totalled over 1.72 million mt, accounting for some 37.7 percent of the E.U. market for UAN, according to the EU’s Official Journal, citing Eurostat data
During that period, imports from Russia reached some 613,000 mt, with some 742,000 mt and 368,000 mt coming from the U.S. and Trinidad and Tobago, respectively, according to the EU’s Official Journal, citing Eurostat data.