On Monday, 6 September, the EU’s agricultural organisations and cooperatives (Copa and Cogeca) called for the suspension of anti-dumping taxes targeting imports from the main countries that produce urea-ammonium nitrate (UAN).
In Copa and Cogeca’s view, this measure is responsible for shortages and the price of fertiliser doubling on the market since 2017/2018.
This anti-dumping measure was launched in 2019 after a complaint from the EU fertiliser industry for reasons that are no longer relevant, according to Copa and Cogeca.
In Europe, UAN prices have doubled since 2017–2018. “Farmers now pay above 210 million euros every year for a tax that is filling EU fertiliser manufacturers’ pockets who don’t need this extra income to generate high profits”, Copa and Cogeca argue.
These organisations indicate that this “unnecessary barrier to imports” results in low competition and shortages that allow EU suppliers to “speculate in unprecedented proportions”. Thus, not only are prices skyrocketing, but it has also become impossible to find the product on the market. This situation is considered “unacceptable”; Copa and Cogeca filed a suspension request in April 2021 to have this measure lifted. The European Commission is in the process of analysing this request. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)