Tag: Tariffs

UK and EU policymakers are trying to bring down fertilizer costs without losing control of safety, climate and trade risks.

A coalition of European energy-intensive industries, including Fertilizers Europe, has called for an EU-wide cap on electricity network tariffs, warning that rising grid charges are becoming a “structural burden” on their global competitiveness and threatening investment in decarbonisation.

Policy decisions and geopolitical shocks are now the dominant drivers of sulphur and phosphate fertilizer markets, overriding more traditional seasonal fundamentals. The conflict in the Middle East, including the escalation around Iran, has tightened sulphur availability and lifted costs sharply, while China’s export restrictions continue to restrict global phosphate supply.

Nitrogen markets, and urea in particular, have been impacted by a series of geopolitical shocks in recent years which have driven markets over and above normal market factors such as feedstock and shipping costs, crop prices etc.

A market already characterised by tight supply has been thrown into chaos by the Iran war and reduction of phosphate exports from the Gulf at the knock on effect on sulphur prices, a key input into MAP/DAP production.

We speak with Ilya Motorygin, Managing Partner and Co-founder of GG Trading DMCC.

The European Commission (EC) officially proposed to suspend, for one year, the most favoured nation (MFN) duties on imports of several key nitrogen-containing fertilizers and inputs for their production, including ammonia and urea, officials said 24 February. The tariff suspension will be implemented for all countries, except Russia and Belarus, through duty-free tariff rate quotas, the Commission noted. Imports beyond these quotas will be subject to standard MFN duties, it added.

Corn grower groups are pressing the US Justice Department for an update on its fertilizer market probe.

Europe is likely to become an increasing ammonia importer over the coming years as low global ammonia prices and high European gas prices squeeze producer margins, but CBAM remains a wild card.

The US ended ‘reciprocal tariffs’ on fertilizer imports on 14th November.