The European Commission told the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture, on 30 November, that it was considering lifting anti-dumping duties on so-called ‘nitrogen fertilisers’, while stressing that this was not a miracle solution (see EUROPE 12836/18).
Lifting these anti-dumping duties to address rising fertiliser prices in the EU is a possibility, said Michael Scannell, Deputy Director-General of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Agriculture (DG AGRI).
He confirmed that the Commission had launched an investigation and asked the different actors “to provide evidence before 1 December to see where things stand”. However, Mr Scannell called for caution on the lifting of these anti-dumping duties. In his opinion, this is not a miracle solution, as the duties in question are between €22 and €42 per tonne, while prices for nitrogen fertilisers are around €750 per tonne. He also questioned the effectiveness of removing certain import duties on certain ingredients.
Michaela Šojdrová (EPP, Czech Republic) said that lifting anti-dumping duties was not a good idea, while other MEPs, such as Anne Sander (EPP, France) and Chris MacManus (The Left, Ireland), supported lifting them. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)