European Commission proposes added tariffs on Russian, Belarusian fertilizers

The European Commission has proposed additional tariffs on fertilizer imports from Russia and Belarus into the European Union in an effort to temper trade dependencies and bolster domestic industry.

Under the proposal, adopted Jan. 28, several fertilizers from both countries would be subject to an added fee of Eur40-45/mt beginning in July 2025. This would ramp up over the following three years to Eur315/mt for urea, ammonium nitrate, urea ammonium nitrate, calcium ammonium nitrate, and ammonium sulfate. The fee would increase over the same period to Eur430/mt for diammonium phosphate, monoammonium phosphate, NPK, and NP fertilizers. These charges would be in addition to the existing duty of 6.5% already applied to fertilizer imports from both countries.

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, assessed its FCA France granular urea spot price at Eur450/mt on Jan. 28.

Accelerator and stopgap measures

However, the Commission's proposal also includes an accelerator which would ratchet up the tariffs to their maximum levels ahead of July 2028 if total imports of the relevant fertilizers into the EU from Russia and Belarus exceed the following thresholds:

• 2.7 million mt from July 1, 2025 until June 30, 2026
• 1.8 million mt from July 1, 2026 until June 30, 2027
• 0.9 million mt from July 1, 2027 until June 30, 2028

The proposal also offers a stopgap to loosen restrictions if European fertilizer costs "substantially exceed" 2024 levels over the first four years of the new tariffs' implementation. While it does not outline exactly what such measures would look like, the proposal gives the example of temporarily suspending tariffs on fertilizers imported from countries other than Russia and Belarus.

"These tariffs are carefully calibrated to serve multiple goals," said Maros Sefcovic, Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security and Interinstitutional Relations and Transparency for the European Commission. "We aim to weaken further Russia's war economy, while reducing EU dependencies, supporting our industry, and preserving global food security. We will take every step necessary to protect our fertilizers industry and farmers."

The potential for added trade restrictions comes days after leaders from several major companies in the European fertilizer industry called for tariffs of at least 30% on Russian and Belarusian imports. While the EU has moved to reduce its dependency on Russian gas imports amid the war in Ukraine, it has not, until now, made similar moves for fertilizer imports.

The European Parliament and the European Council must now consider the proposal.