Bayer division withdraws glyphosate tariff petition
Ruveon, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bayer, announced on Friday its intent to withdraw its petitions with the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission requesting antidumping and countervailing duty investigations into imports of glyphosate-based herbicides from China.
Bayer is the maker of Roundup, whose principal active ingredient is glyphosate.
Corn, soybean and wheat leaders, who had expressed fury with the filing shortly after Bayer won a Supreme Court decision protecting the company from state lawsuits charging Roundup caused cancer, said they were pleased.
NCGA President and Ohio farmer Jed Bower said, “We commend Ruveon for listening to its customers and withdrawing this petition. As we have highlighted multiple times in recent weeks and months, input costs are a top concern of growers, and for good reason. Actions like the ones Ruveon planned to take would have made an already bad situation even worse.”
American Soybean Association President Scott Metzger, who is also an Ohio producer, said, “We appreciate Ruveon’s decision to withdraw the antidumping and countervailing duty petitions after listening to the concerns about affordability and access raised by ASA, soybean farmers, and other agricultural organizations. ASA provided extensive feedback to Ruveon following the filing of the petitions and again this week during our board of directors meeting. Ruveon’s decision reflects the value they place on farmer customers who rely on access to affordable crop protection tools to remain productive and globally competitive. We appreciate Ruveon’s willingness to engage with growers and respond to their concerns, and ASA looks forward to continuing this important dialogue.”
National Association of Wheat Growers CEO Sam Kieffer said, “This is welcome news at a time when America’s wheat farmers are already facing extreme financial pressures from factors beyond their control, including inflation and geopolitical disruptions that have driven up the cost of planting, growing and harvesting wheat. We appreciate that Ruveon listened to farmers and made a course correction to pull back their request seeking trade barriers that would have likely increased farmers’ costs while wheat farmers are already facing the fourth straight year of losing money on every acre of wheat.
“Farmers, more than most people, understand good years and bad years; but we urge Ruveon to remember the sharp response they received from farmers in the last few weeks and refrain from extreme, upward price swings in the future. We don’t begrudge input providers for seeking a return on their investment, but we also expect fairness and transparency in the marketplace.”
The International Trade Commission had scheduled a preliminary conference in person on glyphosate from China on Tuesday.
