Possible European tax on nitrogen fertilizers

Europe may want to impose anti-dumping duties on the import of liquid nitrogen fertilizers, because the import would be harmful to its own fertilizer industry. However, this can cost farmers money, due to rising fertilizer prices.

The duties are mainly related to cheap imports from Russia, the United States and Trinidad and Tobago. According to the European Trade Commission, this is dumping, because the prices of fertilizers from these countries are significantly lower than those on the European market. That writes agrarheute.com† In addition to the import duties, the import quantities from these countries must also be registered.

'Farmer is going to bleed'
However, the European agricultural organization Copa-Cogeca is very concerned about the measure. Copa-Cogeca argues that the lower prices of nitrogen fertilizers (such as urea and ammonium nitrate) correspond to the global market trend† "The farmer will bleed with this measure," says the umbrella organization.

The organization states that the anti-dumping duty must be paid somewhere on the European market. "The farmer will probably pay for it then." This leads to a weakening of European competitiveness. Copa-Cogeca says that fertilizer costs in Europe represent up to 30% of operating costs. The consequences of this levy would cost European farmers €5 billion in 2 years, the organization says.

Anne-Jan Doorn

Anne Jan Doorn is an arable expert at Boerenbusiness. He writes about the various arable farming markets and also focuses on the land and energy market.

aj.doorn@boerenbusiness. Nl

© DCA Market Intelligence. This market information is subject to copyright. It is not permitted to reproduce, distribute, disseminate or make the content available to third parties for compensation, in any form, without the express written permission of DCA Market Intelligence.