Fertilizers Europe welcomes EU Member States requests to introduce tariffs on Russian and Belarusian fertilizers and calls on the European Commission to take a prompt action

Brussels, 25 November 2024: Fertilizers Europe, the voice of the European fertilizer industry, truly welcomes and fully supports the two parallel initiatives of EU Member States that call for introduction of tariffs on Russian and Belarusian fertilizers. Urgent action is required to stop Russian fertilizers from financing the illegal full-scale invasion of Ukraine, while safeguarding the EU’s strategic autonomy in food and fertilizer production.

At the 21 November 2024 EU Trade Council Meeting, Poland together with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania called on the European Commission to take a decisive action on surging imports of Russian and Belarusian fertilizers to the EU. In parallel, Sweden together with 7 other EU Member States (DK, EE, FI, IE, LT, LV, PL) called for a Commission proposal on increased tariffs for EU imports of Russian and Belarus products, including fertilizers.

Antoine Hoxha, Director General of Fertilizers Europe said “We truly welcome the EU Member States calls to introduce tariffs on finished fertilizers from Russia and Belarus. Every month, Europe is becoming more reliant on Russian and Belarusian imports. Surging imports to the EU (+117% increase of Russia urea imports between 2020/21 and 2023/24) that result in growing dependency, makes it clear that the time to act is now”. He added “The growing reliance of fertilizers from Russia is not only a threat to Europe’s agricultural sovereignty but also to the environmental goals we are striving to achieve. Main fertilizers produced in the EU being on average 50- 60% less carbon intensive than Russian products ”

Hoxha underlined “Imposing tariffs on Russian fertilizers will cut off revenue to Russia’s war machine and avoid the dangers of over-reliance on Russian imports as it was the case with the recent energy crisis. This will help prevent destabilising the EU fertilizer market and allow domestic producers to continue the green transformation of their operations”.

“We urge the European Commission to promptly put forward a proposal for tariffs that would effectively stop imports of fertilizers from Russia and Belarus to the EU. These measures, while applicable only to the EU and severe enough to suppress such imports in practice, would not affect export to third countries and would be designed to prevent market destabilisation. Fertilizers Europe and its members remain committed to working with all stakeholders to safeguard Europe’s agricultural future,” said Antoine Hoxha.