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Rabat – The US Court of International Trade is considering appealing against recently imposed tariffs on Moroccan-made fertilizers, according to multiple news sources.
For supporters, the potential appeal is a welcome corrective to the US International Trade Commission’s decision in 2021 to hike import duties on Moroccan-made fertilizers following an anti-trust suit that US fertilizers manufacturer Mosaic leveled against Morocco’s OCP Group.
With rising prices putting global food security in jeopardy, the spillover from the Ukraine war has especially brought the Commission’s decision under intense scrutiny given skyrocketing fertilizers prices.
Last year, Mosaic argued that Moroccan-made fertilizers sold in the US at lower prices were unfairly competitive as they are allegedly subsidized by the Moroccan government.
Numerous US lawmakers have in recent weeks introduced draft legislation calling for the US International Trade Commission (ITC) to drop import duties on fertilizers from Morocco among other countries. They have notably warned that the import duties are threatening to send food prices even higher domestically.
In March, more than 83 US congressmen and congresswomen sent a letter to the US International Trade Commission (ITC), urging the federal agency to suspend import tariffs on fertilizers coming from Morocco, Trinidad, and Tobago.
In a statement, one US lawmaker explained that farmers within his constituency are increasingly opting out of cultivating due to the drastic rise in fertilizers prices.
Farmers’ unions have equally sounded the alarm over rising fertilizers prices.
Read also: US Sides With Phosphate Giant Mosaic, Against OCP and US Farmers
The National Corn Growers Association, a US farmers union, says that the US court’s decision to consider appealing tariffs on fertilizers has put fertilizer companies under scrutiny, according to a recent statement reported by NewsDakota,
“We’ve been sounding the alarm for a long time and telling officials these tariffs are hurting farmers,” NCGA President Chris Edgington told NewsDakota. “We finally have seen results as a judge with the Court of International Trade began asking tough questions about the assertions made by fertilizer companies.”
Decisions by the ITC and the Court of International Trade are expected later this summer.
As of this week, only 35% of foreign fertilizers on the US market are not subject to import tariffs. Coupled with the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and the sanctioning of Russian-made ammonia, the tariffs have caused a staggering 93% rise in the cost of fertilizers in the US.
With fertilizer production costs equally increasing by 15%, rising fertilizers prices are causing a compound effect that is resonating throughout the agri-food industry, resulting in historical rises in food prices and threatening farmers’ livelihoods.
