The European Commission has intervened to effectively open up new sources of potash for British farmers and growers.

The Commission has announced the end of anti-dumping duties and quotas for potash from Belarus and Russia.

The anti-dumping measures in the form of tariffs on imports coming into the EU had been in force for nearly two decades, making it much harder for British farmers and growers to source one the key nutrients for fertilizer.

But the NFU and other EU stakeholders have been arguing that the measures no longer reflected the true market situation which had seen prices for farmers double in the last three years.

Ian Backhouse, NFU combinable crops board chairman and chairman of the Copa-Cogeca cereals working party, said farmers and growers will now be able to benefit from a wider supply base for their fertilizer needs.

“This decision shows that the Commission has listened to our arguments and recognises that it is in the interest of European agriculture to be able to source key inputs from across the world at the most competitive prices,” he said.

The NFU has been submitting evidence to anti-dumping reviews on all fertilizer inputs, stressing the importance of the world fertilizer trade for the farming industry. It has argued that artificially constricted supply bases have ‘damaging effects for farmers and for food production in the EU’, Mr Backhouse said.

“Thanks to support from MEPs, potash suppliers and the EU farmers’ organization Copa-Cogeca, the Commission has finally seen sense and removed this out-dated trade barrier,” he said

George Lyon, Liberal Democrat MEP for Scotland, also welcomed the decision. “The Commission decision to drop the tariffs will help hard pressed farmers who are facing steep rises in fertilizer prices,” he said.

“I am pleased that the pressure that MEP’s placed on the Commission and national governments has paid off.”

The ruling, announced by the Commission’s Directorate-General for Trade on Tuesday, comes into force at midnight today (Wednesday, July 13).