The owner of the largest chemical plants of Ukraine, Dmitry Firtash, has achieved a new increase in duties on mineral fertilizers from Russia: they will grow to the most popular ammonium nitrate to 29-43%. The market notes that earlier the growth of duties was hampered by Ukrainian agrarians, frightened by the growth of their prices, but now for Kiev the policy is more important than the economy. Analysts do not rule out that Russian plants will redirect supplies from Ukraine to Europe.

The Interdepartmental Commission for International Trade of Ukraine raised anti-dumping duties on the import of ammonium nitrate from the Russian Federation. For the structure of "Akron" Dorogobuzh, the duty will grow from the current 20.51% to 29.25%, for the rest - from 36.03% to 42.96%. At the current price of saltpeter about $ 170 per ton, the duty will be $ 73.03, which will exceed the EU rates (about $ 60). The previous duty Kiev introduced in 2014 for five years. The decision will come into force after publication in the "Uriadovy Courier".

The increase in duties in the commission is explained by supply disruptions and fears that the Russian chemists can bypass the current measures. Also, they are going to ask the Verkhovna rada to speed up the editing of customs norms for the diversification of supplies. Since March 14, the country has temporarily banned the import of all fertilizers from the Russian Federation, it will operate until the revision of anti-dumping measures by species.

For some types of imports of fertilizers from the Russian Federation occupies up to 90% of the Ukrainian market, and Kiev regularly limited it to protect its producers. The main one is Dmitry Firtash, owner of the Group DF nitrogen fertilizer plants, who was the main lobbyist for restrictions. In May 2017, Kiev introduced anti-dumping duties on urea and urea-ammonium nitrate from the Russian Federation at a rate of 31.84%, then it was banned imports of granulated and calcined ammonium nitrate and ammonium sulfate from March 1, 2018 to the end of 2019. Russian companies do not comment on the situation.

"Dmitry Firtash is vitally interested in stopping Russian supplies," a source in the Verkhovna Rada told Kommersant, saying that he had achieved his goal, but the factories are not stable. Prime Minister of Ukraine Vladimir Groysman said on March 23 that the deficit will be covered through the work of Ukrainian enterprises. But, the Kommersant source says, Russian fertilizers are cheaper than Ukrainian fertilizers and are better in quality, and prices for fertilizers will be increased by prices. "Last year, such a threat allowed the government to keep cheap supplies from Russia (imports nearly doubled), but now this is politically problematic," the source said. According to the Ukrainian Institute of Agrarian Economics, due to the rise in prices for nitrogen fertilizers in 2017, agrarians lost about $ 0.7 billion. According to the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Rada, prices for nitrogen fertilizers in Ukraine and before the increase of duties were 30% higher than the world ones.

Oleg Petropavlovski from BCS notes that duties above 10% are blocking, and Russian producers can either bypass them (for example, by changing the composition of fertilizers) or reorient supplies. Sources of Kommersant on the market note that the duty in Europe is lower than in Ukraine, and supplies there can grow.