Ag Lobby Asks ITC to Reexamine Phosphate Injury Determination, Consider Costs

More than 50 agriculture interests, led by the National Corn Growers Association, asked the International Trade Commission to reconsider the impact of weather in 2019 when examining the phosphate purchases and import patterns of farmers, as the Court of International Trade instructed it to (see 2309190060). Flooding along the Mississippi River led to shipment problems for fertilizer, as well as fields that couldn't be planted.

The Commerce Department imposed 19.97% countervailing duties on Moroccan phosphate fertilizer exports, and though it recently reduced that rate to 2.12%, the corn growers noted, "that decision was retroactive and largely academic as the Moroccan company producing the fertilizers has halted shipping of all but one of its products into the U.S."

Commerce was also given a remand by the CIT, and the ag interests hope they will make the lower duties permanent.

Ag interests also have urged Congress to get involved, and a group of Republican senators and House members asked President Joe Biden to intervene in antidumping and countervailing duty cases on phosphate fertilizer from Morocco and a preliminary decision on a trade remedy case on urea ammonium nitrate fertilizer from Trinidad and Tobago (see 2207150042). Members of Congress -- and the ag interests -- asked the administration to consider the high price of fertilizer's effect on farmers.

The Dec. 7 letter from 58 groups said: "We urge the ITC to consider impacts on family farms as it works to reconsider its determination of material injury to domestic industries."

However, neither the ITC nor Commerce is allowed to consider the cost to purchasers when hiking the price of imports in trade remedy laws.