Following pressure from the NFU, the European Commission has announced the end of anti-dumping duties and quotas for potash from Belarus and Russia.
This means farmers and growers will be able to benefit from a wider supply base for their future fertiliser needs.
Potash, or potassium chloride, is one of the main plant nutrients, essential for British farmers to maintain and expand food production. The existing potash anti-dumping trade controls had been in force for nearly two decades and the NFU believes they no longer reflected the true market situation which had seen prices for farmers double in the last three years.
Ian Backhouse, NFU combinable crops board chairman and chairman of the Copa-Cogeca cereals working party, said: “This decision shows that the Commission has listened to our arguments and recognises that it is in the interest of European agriculture to be able to source key inputs from across the world at the most competitive prices.
“The NFU consistently submits evidence to anti-dumping reviews on all fertiliser inputs, stressing the importance of the world fertiliser trade for our farming industry and the damaging effects of an artificially constricted supply base for farmers and for food production in the EU.
“Thanks to support from MEPs, potash suppliers and the EU farmers’ organisation Copa-Cogeca, the Commission has finally seen sense and removed this out-dated trade barrier. We will continue to argue the farmers’ case in future anti-dumping proceedings.”
The ruling comes into force at midnight on July 13 and was announced by the Commission’s Directorate-General for Trade today (Tuesday). The NFU worked closely with other EU stakeholders in Brussels to raise this issue.
No comments have been made.