DOC Investigation Nos. C-821-825, C-714-001 USITC Inv. No. TA-701- Total No
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DOC Investigation Nos. C-821-825, C-714-001 USITC Inv. No. TA-701- Total No. of Pages: 500 Petitioner's Business Proprietary Information Deleted from Pages 1-2, 1-5 -1-6, 1-22-1-24, I-27, I-29-1-31, I-35- 1-40, 1-42 - I-45, I-52, I-54, I-58, and in Exhibits I-5, I-6, 1-7, I-18, I-21, 1- 26, I-27, 1-28, 1-48, 1-49, 1-50, I-51, 1-52, 1-53 PUBLIC VERSION BEFORE THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND THE UNITED ST ATES INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION PHOSPHATE FERTILIZERS FROM MOROCCO AND RUSSIA PETITIONS FOR THE IMPOSITION OF COUNTERVAILING DUTIES PURSUANT TO SECTION 701 OF THE TARIFF ACT OF 1930, AS AMENDED ON BEHALF OF THE MOSAIC COMPANY VOLUME I: COMMON ISSUES AND INJURY SECTION David J. Ross Patrick J. McLain Sarah S. Sprinkle Stephanie E. Hartmann Semira Nikou WILMER CUTLER PICKERING HALE and DORR LLP 1875 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20006 (202) 663-6000 Counsel for The Mosaic Company June 26, 2020 PUBLIC VERSION TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW ................................................................................. 1 II. COMMON ISSUES .............................................................................................................. .3 A. THE PETITIONER, THE DOMESTIC INDUSTRY, AND DOMESTIC INDUSTRY SUPPORT ............................................................................................ .4 1. Petitioner Contact Information ..................................................................... .4 2. The Domestic Industry on Behalf of Which the Petitions Are Filed ............ .4 3. Domestic Industry Support for the Petitions .................................................. 5 B. PREVIOUS REQUESTS FOR IMPORT RELIEF ................................................... 6 C. SCOPE OF THE INVESTIGATION AND A DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE SUBJECT MERCHANDISE ..................................................................................... 6 1. Proposed Scope of the Investigation .............................................................. 6 2. U.S. Tariff Classification ............................................................................... 8 3. Physical Characteristics, Specifications, and Uses ........................................ 9 4. Production Methods ....................................................................................... 14 D. SUBJECT COUNTRIES ........................................................................................... 17 E. U.S. IMPORTVOLUMEANDVALUE .................................................................. 18 F. NAMES AND ADDRESSES OF KNOWN U.S. IMPORTERS ............................. .18 G. NAMES AND ADDRESSES OF KNOWN FOREIGN PRODUCERS AND EXPORTERS ............................................................................................................. 18 III. THE DOMESTIC INDUSTRY IS MATERIALLY INJURED, AND THREATENED WITH FURTHER MATERIAL INJURY, BY REASON OF IMPORTED PHOSPHATE FERTILIZERS FROM MOROCCO AND RUSSIA ............................................................ 18 A. The Commission Should Define a Domestic Like Product Coextensive with the Scope .......................................................................................................................... 19 B. Conditions of Competition in the Phosphate Fertilizer Industry and the Business Cycle .......................................................................................................................... 23 C. Imports of Phosphate Fertilizers from Morocco and Russia Are Significant, Both in , Absolute Terms and Relative to Domestic Production ............................................. .24 1. Subject Imports from Morocco and Russia Are Not Negligible .................... 25 2. The Commission Should Cumulate Imports from Subject Countries .......... .25 3. The Volume of Subject Imports from Morocco and Russia Is Significant and Increasing ....................................................................................................... 28 4. Subject Imports Increased Relative to Domestic Production and Captured Market Share from the Domestic Industry .................................................... .29 D. Imports of Phosphate Fertilizers from Morocco and Russia Are Causing Adverse Price Effects in the U.S. Market ................................................................................ 30 - I-i - PUBLIC VERSION E. Significant Volumes of Low-Priced Subject Imports Are Having a Severe Adverse Impact on the Domestic Industry ............................................................................... 37 1. The Domestic Industry Has Lost Sales and Market Share to Rapidly Increasing Imports ......................................................................................... 37 2. The Domestic Industry Has Suffered Significant Idling of Production Facilities and Underutilized Capacity ........................................................... .41 3. The Domestic Industry Is Suffering Significant Declines in Profitability .... .43 4. The Domestic Industry Is Experiencing Declines in Employment and Wages ························································································································44 5. Subject Imports Are Adversely Affecting Domestic Industry Investments in Production Operations ................................................................................... 45 F. The Domestic Industry is Threatened with Further Material Injury by Reason of Rapidly Increasing Imports ....................................................................................... .46 1. The Subsidies at Issue Include Export Subsidies Prohibited under Article 3 of the WTO Subsidies Agreement .................................................................... .4 7 2. Foreign Producers Have Substantial Excess Capacity and the United States is the Focal Point for Exports of Subject Merchandise .................................... .47 3. The Volume and Market Share Penetration of Subject Imports Are Increasing at a Significant Rate ....................................................................................... 52 4. Low-Priced Subject Imports Are Having Significant Depressing Effects on Domestic Prices ............................................................................................. 52 5. There Are Substantial Inventories of Subject Imports in the U.S. Market .... 53 6. The Domestic Industry is Vulnerable to Material Injury ............................... 54 G. Rapidly Increasing Subject Imports Are A Substantial Cause of the Material Injury Experienced by the Domestic Industry ...................................................................... 54 IV. CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................... 56 - I-ii - PUBLIC VERSION COUNTERVAILING DUTY PETITIONS REGARDING PHOSPHATE FERTILIZERS FROM MOROCCO AND RUSSIA I. INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW The domestic phosphate fertilizer industry is reeling from an unprecedented surge in subsidized, low-priced imports from Morocco and Russia. The domestic industry's losses and declines - most notable in terms of production, shipments, prices, profits, market share, and employment - are unsustainable on the current trajectory. The Mosaic Company ("Mosaic" or "Petitioner") therefore files these Petitions under section 701 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the "Act"), 19- U.S.C. § 1671 et seq., seeking the imposition of countervailing duties on imports of subsidized phosphate fertilizers from Morocco and Russia. The Moroccan and Russian governments have heavily subsidized their domestic phosphate fertilizer industries for years. This government support takes various forms, including artificially cheap debt and specific tax breaks, but the most distortive form of support is the provision of phosphate rock mining rights on below-market terms. This significant subsidy dramatically lowers the cost to obtain the essential input in all phosphate fertilizers. Armed with this unfair cost advantage, large export champions like OCP, S.A. of Morocco ("OCP" or "OCP Group") and PhosAgro and Eurochem of Russia have penetrated the U.S. market and taken sales and market share from the domestic industry. Over the past three years, Moroccan and Russian producers have flooded the U.S. market with subsidized imports, causing material injury to the domestic industry. Subject import volumes rose from 2.1 million short tons in 2017 to 3.1 million short tons in 2019, an increase of 48%, and increased progressively year over year. 1 Subject imports surged to record levels in 2018 and have continued to enter the United States at unprecedented volumes despite prices in 1 See Annual Import Data 2017-2019 & Jan.-Apr. 2019 & 2020, attached as Exhibit I-1. - I-1 - PROPRIETARY INFORMATION DELETED PUBLIC VERSION CONTAINS RANGED DATA the U.S. market falling to decade lows. While the domestic industry was forced to curtail production and close facilities, low-priced imports continued their surge, capturing an ever increasing share of the U.S. market at the expense of the domestic industry. The rapid increase in imports of phosphate fertilizers has had a devastating impact on the domestic industry and its workers. Domestic producers have been unable to carry out production operations at a reasonable level of profit, forcing them to idle and shut down production facilities. There are now few domestic producers of any size remaining. Despite being the largest, most sophisticated