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NCGA says DOC ruling isn’t good for ag as a larger decision on fertilizer tariffs looms

The National Corn Growers Association says a recent ruling by the U.S. Department of Commerce could create additional fertilizer shortages and price hikes.

Angus Kelly, director of trade and public policy, says it could limit imports of urea ammonium nitrate. “We’ve got to keep those channels of trade open with our trading partners. Morocco, Trinidad and Tobago are strategic allies. We feel strongly about keeping that market open.”

According to the ruling, UAN was unfairly subsidized and sold at less than normal value and Kelly says additional tariffs could exacerbate the problem. “It’s my members who end up paying 100 percent of those tariffs either by losing access to it all together. Or if a foreign company continues importing, they have to pay that tariff and they pass it on to the end users, farmers.”

However, he says that the ITC will have a final ruling in mid-July.

CF Industries has asked the International Trade Commission and Department of Commerce to apply countervailing duties on those countries because it distorted the market.