Plan for tariff on Brazil ammonium nitrate stirs controversy
Adds Abiquim's request to include tariffs on more than 60 other chemical imports
By Ana Mano
SAO PAULO, June 20 (Reuters) - Aproposal to introduce a tariff on ammonium nitrate imports has pitted chemical industry lobby Abiquim against local fertilizer blenders and powerful food producers that favor foreign supplies.
The request by Abiquim, still pending before the development and trade ministry, highlights broader implications of Western sanctions on Russia, which the lobby says ended up bolstering exporters in Asia by providing cheap access to natural gas used as feedstock and fuel to make crop nutrients.
Critics of the levy on ammonium nitrate, which is also used in explosives, say the tariff would penalize about 90% of domestic consumption as Brazil relies basically on imports for supply.
The country imported 1.1 million metric tons last year, 84% from Russia, according to trade data. This year through May, imports were 629,497 metric tons against national output of 64,143 tons, according to Sao Paulo-based fertilizer group Siacesp.
Norway's Yara YAR.OL, the only Brazilian producer, defendedAbiquim's proposal but conceded "it's not the long-term answer."
"Obviously, the structuring solution for the country is to have competitive natural gas [prices], though the tariff is an important tool to guarantee market equality and safeguard the national industry," it said in a statement to Reuters.
Yara's domestic production capacity is 416,000 tons. The company said it made some 90,000 tons of ammonium nitrate for agricultural use last year.
Abiquim's President Andre Cordeiro said in an interview the temporary tariff would level the playing field against imports at a time the domestic chemical industry's utilization capacity hit a 30-year low, averaging 64%.
He noted natural gas prices can cost up to seven times more in Brazil, adding a deluge of cheap imports can lead firms to close doors, including Yara's unit in Sao Paulo state.
Abiquim requested the levy on ammonium nitrate to go from zero to 15%. It also proposed tariffs on more than 60 other imported chemicals averaging 11%, Cordeiro said.
AMA, which represents Brazilian fertilizer blenders, denounced the proposal as protectionist, accusing one multinational company of controlling domestic supplies in a document sent to the development and trade ministry.
AMA specifically mentioned Yara can produce more than 2 million tons per year at its European plants while output in Brazil is much smaller and not entirely destined to make fertilizer.
Other groups strongly opposing the tariff include Brazilian soy, corn, cotton, coffee, beef and sugarcane lobbies. They argued in a public consultation it could raise local food production costs.
"With the price of natural gas in Brazil and other external factors, producing nitrogen fertilizers in the country has become an economically inviable activity," Yara said.
Reporting by Ana Mano; Editing by Josie Kao and Marguerita Choy
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