German chemical giant Bayer has asked the US administration to impose duties on Chinese imports of glyphosate – the chemical used in the company’s weedkiller Roundup – claiming they are being sold at artificially low prices, Reuters reported.
The move had angered US farmers as duties would increase the cost of the herbicide, the report said.
In the week prior to the 1 July report, the company won a major legal victory after the US Supreme Court blocked thousands of state lawsuits alleging that Bayer had failed to warn users that glyphosate caused cancer.
On 25 June, the Supreme Court had overturned a jury verdict in Missouri awarding US$1.25M to John Durnell who said he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma after years of exposure to glyphosate in Roundup, Reuters wrote.
The case specifically dealt with the question of whether federal law governing pesticides gives the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) exclusive authority over product warning labels.
According to Bayer’s claim, as the EPA had not required a cancer warning the company could not be held liable under individual state laws for failing to include such a warning, a view which the Supreme Court upheld.
Commenting on the ruling in a 25 June statement, Bayer CEO Bill Anderson said: “This decision is good for American farmers who help feed the world. It provides the regulatory clarity necessary … to develop the agricultural tools that guarantee an affordable food supply.”
However, environmental and public health groups criticised the ruling.
Bayer had previously told US lawmakers it might stop selling Roundup unless they could strengthen legal protections against product liability litigation.
At the time of the report, the company had paid about US$10bn to settle disputed claims that Roundup caused cancer.
Meanwhile, Bayer has asked the US Department of Commerce and the US International Trade Commission to impose duties on Chinese imports of glyphosate, claiming they are being sold at artificially low prices, according to the 1 July Reuters report.
Bayer had filed the anti-dumping and countervailing duties petitions to address “predatory” trade practices and subsidised imports of glyphosate, Reuters quoted the company as saying.
According to a copy of Bayer’s petition, the company is the only US glyphosate producer and it has asked for countervailing duties to offset the difference between lower cost Chinese shipments and domestically-produced glyphosate.
The move was opposed by US grain and soyabean farmers, who had been struggling financially for the past four years, partly due to high costs for inputs including chemicals, seed and fertiliser, Reuters wrote.
“Actions to impose import taxes on those products limit market competition, threaten cost spikes and ultimately hurt US farmers,” the American Soybean Association said in a statement.
A few days after the US Supreme Court’s landmark ruling on glyphosate, Bayer announced plans to consolidate its US glyphosate business under the name Ruveon, CHEManager reported on 2 July.
The move was aimed at tailoring the business to the specific requirements of the US market, the report said.
Ruveon will focus on all aspects of the US glyphosate business – from pricing and market launch strategies to production and logistics, according to the report.
It would be solely responsible for the glyphosate business in the USA and would be headquartered in St Louis, Missouri and remain part of Bayer, CHEManager wrote.
The consolidation of the US glyphosate business was part of Bayer’s five-year programme for its Crop Science division announced last year, the report said.
