Commerce keeps Moroccan phosphate fertiliser duties after first sunset review

The U.S. Department of Commerce will keep its countervailing duty order on phosphate fertilisers from the Kingdom of Morocco, after concluding that revoking it would likely lead to the continuation or recurrence of subsidised imports at a net rate of 20.04 percent ad valorem. The final results of the first full sunset review, carried out under docket C–714–001, were published in the Federal Register of 3 November 2026 and apply from that same day. The notice was signed on 28 October 2026 by Scot Fullerton, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Operations at the International Trade Administration.

The order itself dates from 7 April 2021, when Commerce published the countervailing duty orders on phosphate fertilisers from Morocco and Russia (86 FR 18037). Five years on, section 751(c) of the Tariff Act of 1930 required a sunset review, which was initiated on 2 March 2026 (91 FR 10053). Because domestic interested parties filed adequate substantive responses and both the Government of Morocco and respondent OCP S.A. answered in full, Commerce opted for a “full” review under 19 CFR 351.218(e)(2) rather than an expedited one.

Preliminary results issued on 24 July 2026 (91 FR 46772) had already pointed to the likelihood of continued or recurring subsidisation, and the final determination confirms that view.

Arguments from both sides

Commerce received written submissions from the two camps during the administrative phase:

• Government of Morocco and OCP S.A. case briefs, filed on 24 August 2026, challenging the preliminary findings.
• Rebuttal briefs from the domestic producers The Mosaic Company and J.R. Simplot Company, LLC, filed on 31 August 2026.

All five disputed issues are resolved in an accompanying Issues and Decision Memorandum, published through the Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Centralized Electronic Service System (ACCESS). They cover whether the programmes previously found countervailable had changed substantially, whether Commerce wrongly found government loan guarantees likely to continue or recur, whether it relied on a rate set with adverse facts available for OCP’s payroll tax refund, whether judicial decisions were properly incorporated, and how the rate likely to prevail was calculated. The legal basis for the determination is sections 751(c)(1) and 752(b) of the Act, with publication under sections 751(c), 752(b) and 777(i)(1).

The rates that would return

Should the order ever be lifted, Commerce found that these subsidy rates would be restored:

• OCP S.A.: 20.04 percent ad valorem.
• All Others: 20.04 percent ad valorem.

The notice also reminds parties operating under an administrative protective order of their duty to return or destroy proprietary information under 19 CFR 351.305, warning that non-compliance is sanctionable.

A parallel track at the trade commission

Keeping the duties depends on a second finding, on injury, which belongs to the U.S. International Trade Commission. In a notice dated 6 October 2026 (91 FR 64676), the Commission scheduled full five-year reviews in Investigation Nos. 701–TA–650–651 (Review) for Morocco and Russia and said it would use its power to extend the review period by up to 90 days. The countervailing duty order therefore remains in force while that injury test runs.

The decision locks in five more years of duties on a fertiliser input that U.S. farmers buy in large volumes, and it fixes the 20.04 percent benchmark that importers of Moroccan phosphate fertilisers must factor into landed costs. For OCP S.A., the world’s largest phosphate exporter, the ruling shuts the door on a duty-free re-entry to the U.S. market until at least the next sunset review; for domestic producers such as Mosaic and Simplot, it preserves the protection granted in 2021.

Source: Federal Register, Vol. 91, No. 211, 3 November 2026, Notices, p. 69241 (official reference: C–714–001).