A US senator plans to introduce a bill to remove countervailing duties on phosphate imports from Morocco in reaction to a growing fertilizer affordability crisis for farmers.
US Senator Roger Marshall (R-Kansas) teased plans for the legislation on Tuesday alongside US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and White House cabinet officials as part of a greater effort to alleviate cost pressures on growers.
The Lowering of Input Costs for American Farmers Act would eliminate the countervailing duties on phosphate imports from Morocco, the leading global producer. If enacted, the elimination of the duties will lower the cost of phosphate fertilizer by over 20pc, or roughly $150/short ton (st), Marshall said.
Nola DAP last week was roughly $710/st fob, compared with $647.50/st a year earlier but much lower than last week's India DAP price of $865/t cfr.
US phosphate prices have trended higher than historic norms since countervailing duties on imports from both Russia and Morocco were imposed in 2021 after US producer Mosaic alleged the two countries' phosphate imports materially injured the US market.
US combined imports of DAP and MAP reached a record 1.85mn t in 2018, but have averaged just 182,300 t/yr from 2021-25, according to US Commerce data.
But Tuesday's announcement comes just roughly two months after the start of the US Department of Commerce's five-year sunset review of the duties, in partnership with the US International Trade Commission.
Throughout the speech, the USDA along with other federal entities cited a variety of short-term and long-term actions being taken to ease pressures felt by growers, mostly in relation to various supply issues and concerns that have significantly elevated fertilizer costs. Alongside Marshall's bill, other legislation has been also been filed with aims to lower fertilizer costs such as the Fertilizer Price Transparency Act and the Fertilizer Research Act.
US phosphate imports have been marked by years of turmoil, with the product's imports being notably deterred by import tariffs, countervailing duties and more recently the loss of seaborne tons from Saudi Arabia through the strait of Hormuz because of the Mideast Gulf war.
