By Julie Tomascik
Editor

Farmers might see some price relief and more supply options for phosphate fertilizer products in the coming months.

The optimism is spurred by an announcement from the U.S. Department of Commerce. The agency announced late last week it would lower the duties from 19.97% to 2.12% on Moroccan phosphate fertilizer products.

The decision comes after Commerce officials conducted an administrative review on the countervailing duties by retroactively examining the price of shipments and other factors.

“Farmers and ranchers have dealt with tariffs and subsequent high prices for fertilizer, driving up their input costs each growing season,” Brant Wilbourn, Texas Farm Bureau associate director of Commodity and Regulatory Activities, said. “This ruling is good news for farmers and ranchers, but it will take some time for supply to catch up to demand. So, price relief won’t happen right away.”

The reduced tariffs are being applauded by over 60 agricultural groups, many of which requested the Commerce Department and International Trade Commission (ITC) to reverse the tariff when it was originally announced in 2021.

The issue stems from the Mosaic Company, the largest U.S. phosphate fertilizer producer, petitioning the Commerce Department in June 2020 to investigate whether Moroccan and Russian phosphate fertilizer producers were receiving unfair subsidies and flooding the U.S. market.

The ITC agreed the foreign producers were unfairly undercutting U.S. fertilizer producers and slapped countervailing duties on the imports.

OCP, the largest Moroccan phosphate fertilizer manufacturer, stopped shipments to the U.S. as a result of the tariffs.

Now that the tariffs have been reduced and the U.S. Court of International Trade is reviewing additional remands that were applied to Moroccan fertilizer imports, the import costs for OCP will drop significantly.

“We remain eager to resume our role of serving as a reliable, high-quality provider of sustainable phosphate fertilizers that are essential in enabling U.S. farmers to feed their fellow citizens and the wider world,” OCP said in a statement.

The Biden administration placed emphasis on increasing domestic fertilizer production, making available $250 million through a new grant program. The program aims to support independent, innovative and sustainable American fertilizer production to supply American farmers.

U.S. farmers spent about $36.9 billion on fertilizer in 2022 compared to $24.4 billion in 2020, according to the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA). From 2020 to 2022, NCGA noted phosphate prices increased by 230%.