The Trade Defence Instrument Committee, composed of representatives from Member States and mandated to assist the European Commission in trade defence matters, failed to decide on the need to apply definitive anti-dumping measures on imports of ‘UAN’ fertilisers.
On Wednesday 11 September, this committee examined a Commission proposal to impose definitive anti-dumping measures on imports of nitrogen fertilisers ‘UAN’ (urea and ammonium nitrate) originating in Russia, Trinidad and Tobago and the United States, without being able to establish its position, confirmed a European source to EUROPE.
The anti-dumping proceeding was initiated in August 2018, following a complaint lodged by Fertilisers Europe on behalf of European producers representing more than 55% of the total production of ammonium nitrate and urea solutions.
Since April 2019, provisional anti-dumping duties have been applied on these fertilisers from Russia, Trinidad and Tobago and the United States, with ad valorem duties ranging from 16.3% to 34%.
In the absence of an opinion from the Member States, the Commission will proceed and adopt its draft implementing act, since all the conditions are met for this purpose. Definitive measures could be put in place as early as 11 October 2019, according to the Commission's timetable.
Mobilisation of grain producers
However, representatives of the agri-food industry consider these measures inappropriate.
Thus, for Cédric Benoist, a member of the Board of Directors of the General Association of Wheat and Other Grain Producers (AGPB), which rallied against these anti-dumping duties, these measures are both “disproportionate and discriminatory” and could be a new “hard blow” for the sector, accusing the Commission of basing its reasoning on an incomplete analysis.
Relayed by EU agricultural organisations and cooperatives (Copa-Cogeca), Mr Benoist also argued that the structure of the European market did not make it possible to meet the production demand of UAN.
To consult the information published by the Commission: https://bit.ly/2kuCLCJ (Original version in French by Hermine Donceel)