The European Commission will begin an anti-dumping investigation into imports of urea originating in Russia.
It comes after the commission received a complaint last month from Fertilizers Europe, on behalf of the EU’s urea fertiliser industry.
Under EU regulations, industry bodies are able to make a complaint to the commission to protect against imports from non-EU countries if these imports are being dumped and are causing injury to that industry within the EU.
The product subject to this investigation is urea, with varying concentrations of nitrogen.
The product allegedly being dumped originates in Russia.
Fertilizers Europe argued that, due to the presence of artificially low Russian state-fixed pricing for natural gas, a key input for manufacturing urea, the cost of production for Russian domestic urea producers is artificially low.
The allegation of dumping is based on a comparison of a constructed “normal value” against the export price for Russian exporters of the product under investigation when sold for export to the EU.
Documents from the European Commission say that, based on this methodology, the dumping margins are “significant” for Russia.
The documents say that Fertilizers Europe has provided evidence that imports of the product under investigation from Russia have increased overall in absolute terms and in terms of market share in the EU.
The industry body claims that the volume and the prices of the imported product under investigation have had, among other consequences, a negative impact on the quantities sold; the level of prices charged; and the market share held by the EU industry, resulting in substantial adverse effects on the overall performance, the financial situation and the employment situation of the EU industry.
The commission’s investigation will determine whether urea fertiliser originating in Russia is being dumped on the EU market, and whether the dumped imports have caused injury to the EU industry.
If the investigation finds in agreement with the complaint, the commission will consider if measures should be implemented to address the dumping of products.
The period of investigation into alleged dumping will cover July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025, while market trends from January 1, 2022 to June 30, 2025 will be considered to determine if there was any injury to the EU fertiliser industry.
