US Court Orders Review of Tariffs on Moroccan Phosphate Fertilizers

Good news for OCP and American agricultural groups. The U.S. Court of International Trade ordered the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) on September 19 to re-evaluate its decision regarding tariffs on phosphates and to conduct a new analysis of the situation within seven months, reports the website beststocks.com. Based on the conclusions of the U.S. Department of Commerce regarding subsidies for phosphate fertilizers by the governments of Morocco and Russia, the ITC had imposed countervailing duties on imports of these materials from the two countries. A countervailing duty of 19% was imposed on products from Morocco.

In June 2020, the American company Mosaic had filed a complaint in which it claimed that "large quantities of phosphate from Morocco and Russia are unfairly subsidized, causing great harm to its interests" in the American market. In March 2021, the ITC indicated that the United States "had suffered material injury due to imports of phosphate fertilizers" from Morocco and Russia and imposed duties on imports of fertilizers from the OCP group. Several agricultural groups had appealed this decision due to its negative impact on American farmers. The latter are facing "a severe shortage of fertilizer supply".

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After expressing their concerns, members of Congress urged the ITC to reconsider the duties imposed. But the Commission is not empowered to waive or repeal trade remedies, on which Congress has the power to make changes. The order is therefore an important development, forcing the ITC to re-evaluate its measures. It will have to collect "new evidence, re-examine that already available to it, and take any action within the framework of remand proceedings to reach conclusions supported by substantial evidence." This decision also allows agricultural groups and stakeholders to hope for a complete reassessment of the taxes on phosphates.