An American buyer spent nearly three years fighting the duty on Russian fertilizer, won on the third round, and the rate importers actually pay does not move

Archer Daniels Midland went to court over a duty on somebody else's product, and it took nearly three years and three rounds to win.

The Commerce Department filed a notice on Tuesday morning amending the countervailing duty rate on phosphate fertilizers from Russia for the period from November 30, 2020 to December 31, 2021. The rate on Joint Stock Company Apatit falls to 22.86 percent from 28.50 percent. The Court of International Trade sustained the calculation on August 12.

What the argument was about

Commerce found in November 2023 that the Russian government had provided Apatit with phosphate ore mining rights for less than adequate remuneration. To price that benefit it built what the regulation calls a tier-three benchmark, comparing the company's phosphate rock cost buildup against world export prices for igneous phosphate rock, and left sedimentary rock prices out of the comparison. That exclusion carried 26.78 of the original 28.50 points.

ADM challenged it. In May 2025 the court told Commerce to either show on the record that the phosphate rock market is significantly driven by the distinction between sedimentary and igneous rock, or rebuild the benchmark. Commerce explained instead. In February 2026 the court sent it back a second time, directing Commerce to construct a benchmark that includes the world price data it had dropped solely on that distinction.

Commerce did so in May, and found that Apatit received no measurable benefit from the mining rights program at all.

Do not read the new total as the old one minus 26.78. Commerce also revised its natural gas benchmark on the first remand and the court sustained that, and the notice states the 22.86 percent figure without breaking out what remains inside it.

What it does not do

Nothing to the cash deposit rate. Apatit carries a superseding deposit rate from a later administrative review, so Commerce says it will issue no revised instructions to Customs and Border Protection.

Nothing yet to the entries either. Commerce remains enjoined by court order from liquidating entries produced or exported by Apatit during the review period, and they stay enjoined through any appeal. The notice exists because Timken obliges Commerce to announce a court decision that is not in harmony with its own determination, and to hold liquidation until that decision is conclusive.

It takes effect on August 22. Commerce names PhosAgro and thirteen PhosAgro subsidiaries as cross-owned with Apatit.