The US to impose preliminary duties on phosphate fertilizer imports from Morocco’s OCP

The United States will impose preliminary duties on phosphate fertilizer imports from Morocco and Russia. The announcement made Tuesday by the US Department of Commerce comes after the same body launched an investigation earlier this year to determine if procedure in these countries were receiving unfair subsidies.

According to Reuters, the American department set preliminary duties of 23.46% on imports from Morocco’s OCP group and other producers in the country. Meanwhile, it set preliminary duties of 20.94% on those from Russia's Phosagro, 72.50% on EuroChem and 32.92% on all other Russian producers.

The US Department of Commerce’s ruling follows the investigation launched in July after Mosaic filed petitions.

Responding to said investigation, OCP announced that it would challenge the petition as its fertilizers «do not receive any form of subsidy from the state», officials from the company said.

OCP had even announced that it could consider stopping fertilizer sales in the United States if the country’s Commerce Department imposes an anti-subsidy duty on its imports.