Russia, U.S., Trinidad Face Five-Year EU Tariffs on Fertilizer

(Bloomberg) --

The European Union imposed five-year tariffs on a liquid nitrogen fertilizer from Russia, the U.S. and Trinidad and Tobago to curb competition for producers in the bloc such as Poland-based Grupa Azoty Zaklady Azotowe Pulawy.

The duties punish the three countries’ exporters of mixtures of urea and ammonium nitrate for allegedly selling them in the 28-nation EU below cost, a practice known as dumping. The rates of the anti-dumping levies are:

• 42.47 ($46.63) euros a metric ton against all Russian exporters including Acron PJSC except two, Azot and Nevinnomyssky Azot, which face a duty of 27.77 euros a ton
• 29.48 euros a ton against U.S. producers including CF Industries Holdings Inc.
• 22.24 euros a ton against Trinidad and Tobago-based Methanol Holdings (Trinidad) Ltd. and any other manufacturers there

The five-year protection follows provisional EU measures introduced in April that took the form of ad valorem duties as high as 34%. Volatility in the import prices of mixtures of urea and ammonium nitrate requires the “definitive” anti-dumping measures to take the form of duties expressed in euros a metric ton, according to the European Commission.

“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,” the commission, the EU’s executive arm in Brussels, said on Wednesday in the bloc’s Official Journal. The five-year duties will take effect on Thursday.

The definitive levies translate into a maximum 31.9% on Russia, 23.9% on the U.S. and 16.2% on Trinidad and Tobago. For Russia and Trinidad and Tobago, those rates are lower than the provisional levies. As a result, the EU will refund importers the difference with the five-year duties.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Stearns in Brussels at jstearns2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Peter Chapman, Nicholas Larkin

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