Economy Min. tries to save fertilizer producers from EU anti-dumping duties

At the end of the month the European Union (EU) Anti-dumping Committee will decide whether to introduce punitive duties on Polish ammonium saltpeter manufacturers. The Economy Ministry for the first time is staging a special EU-wide campaign to try to convince member countries to vote against the duties. The dumping charges are a painful blow to the Polish chemical industry which has a production potential of 2.7 million tonnes, while the Polish market has a capacity for no more than 1 million tonnes. The Economy Ministry has prepared a special 40-page report presenting calculations and explaining that Poland was forced to increase its exports to the EU because of pressure from cheap fertilizers from former Soviet Union countries. (Gazeta Wyborcza, page 32) T.J.