The National Corn Growers Association says they’re worried about the availability and price of inputs after the Department of Commerce approved a tariff hike on phosphorous fertilizer from Morocco.
The Department intends to raise those tariffs from 2.12 percent to 14.21 percent. Commerce’s actions came after Mosaic, a domestic fertilizer company, requested the action from the agency in 2023 over an import dispute with another multinational company.
“The price of corn has dropped, and input costs are already high, so the Commerce Department’s decision is the last thing farmers need,” says NCGA President Harold Wolle (WOOL-lee). “If fertilizers continue to go up in price and are hard to secure, farmers will only have the Mosaic Company and Commerce Department to thank.” The proposed new rate would be the final retroactive tariff for 2022 imports and be the new provisional rate for imports from November 2024 and onward until the next administrative review.