The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) Thursday voted that imports of phosphate fertilizers from Morocco and Russia are causing material injury to the U.S. phosphate industry, the result of a complaint brought by the U.S. fertilizer company Mosaic.
The vote was four-to-one in the decision which followed a determination by the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) that the imports were subsidized by the governments of Morocco and Russia. Chair Jason Kearns, Vice Chair Randolph Stayin, and Commissioners Rhonda Schmidtlein and Amy Karpel voted in the affirmative while Commissioner David Johanson voted in the negative.
DOC will now issue countervailing duty orders on imports of phosphate fertilizers from Morocco and Russia. The USITC will issue a final report Phosphate Fertilizers from Morocco and Russia that will contain the views of the Commission and information developed during the investigations.
The report is to be made available by April 13. USITC will provide their determination to DOC March 30.
Morocco's OCP issued a statement countering the ITC ruling, saying there is “no basis” for the imposition of a 19.97% countervailing duty on exports of phosphate fertilizer from Morocco.
“Despite this decision, OCP recognizes the supply challenges that American farmers face and is determined to serve them in the future, and will explore the most appropriate options to do so,” OCP said.