Firtash starts a trade war against Russia
The owner of the largest chemical plants in Ukraine, Dmitry Firtash, achieved a new increase in duties on mineral fertilizers from the Russian Federation.
He writes about it “Kommersant”, noting that mThe Interdepartmental Commission on International Trade of Ukraine increased anti-dumping duties on the import of ammonium nitrate from the Russian Federation. Thus, at the current price of saltpeter about $170 per ton, the duty will be $73,03, which will exceed the EU rates (about $60). At the same time, from March 14, Ukraine has temporarily banned the import of all fertilizers from the Russian Federation.
The publication indicates that for certain types of fertilizer imports from the Russian Federation occupies up to 90% of the Ukrainian market, and Kiev regularly limited it to protect its producers, the main of which is Dmitry Firtash’s Group DF, which owns nitrogen fertilizer factories, who was the main lobbyist for the restrictions.
“Dmitry Firtash has a vested interest in stopping Russian supplies,” a source in the Ukrainian parliament said.
The publication’s interlocutor admitted that Russian fertilizers are cheaper than Ukrainian ones and are of better quality, and farmers will factor the increase in prices for fertilizers into prices.
“Last year, such a threat allowed the government to maintain cheap supplies from Russia (imports approximately doubled), but now it is politically problematic,” the Ukrainian source said.
According to the Ukrainian Institute of Agrarian Economics, due to rising prices for nitrogen fertilizers in 2017, farmers lost about $0,7 billion, and according to the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council, prices for nitrogen fertilizers in Ukraine even before the increase in duties were 30% higher than the world market.
Experts interviewed by the newspaper believe that Russian producers will be able to either circumvent Ukrainian protective duties, for example, by changing the composition of fertilizers, or redirect supplies to the EU, where duties are lower than in Ukraine.
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