WA company 4Farmers has dismissed claims of dumping as "nonsense" after Customs and Border Protection announced it would be conducting an inquiry into the alleged dumping of fully formulated glyphosate products imported into Australia from China.
The decision to conduct the inquiry follows Customs' consideration on an anti-dumping application lodged by Australian-based manufacturers of formulated glyphosate products.
The industry's application claims dumped imports of formulated glyphosate have contributed to a 20 per cent reduction in Australian production volumes in the 2010-2011 financial year, while there has been a 393pc increase in imported volumes into Australia over the same period.
The application contends that formulated glyphosate products are sold for export to Australia at prices below the price that like goods are sold on the domestic market in China and/or prices below the cost of production.
But 4Farmers general manager Neil Mortimore said farmers should be prepared to pay higher prices for glyphosate if the application was successful.
"Fully imported glyphosate would comfortably account for the majority of generic glyphosate on the market and the source of this would largely be China," Mr Mortimore said.
"Who knows what it might increase glyphosate prices by? It's a big concern because glyphosate is the biggest chemical for most farmers.
"Philosophically 4Farmers is opposed to all protectionism.
"4Farmers has been fighting for the removal of tariffs and duties applied to many farm chemicals.
"Farmers have to sell their products in a free market so the inputs should also be free of any imposts too.
"Glyphosate already has a tariff applied to it and any dumping duty would be on top of that, just like 2,4D chemicals.
"We think any dumping claims on glyphosate are likely to prove nonsense as they have in similar past investigations."
Mr Mortimore said a similar application was made by Monsanto in 1996 on glyphosate acid that makes the finished product.
"At that time Customs rejected the application because the products were found not to be dumped," he said.
"Another dumping duty application was made in 2001 by Monsanto to apply on all products containing glyphosate, acid and formulated.
"Again it was dismissed due to no evidence of dumping as claimed. "
Nufarm Australia general manager Lachie McKinnon said the Federal Government anti-dumping legislation was in place to ensure there was an even playing field with respect to competition between local producers and importers.
Nufarm, which operates major glyphosate formulation facilities at Laverton North, Victoria and at Kwinana, has been Australia's leading supplier of the widely used herbicide for many years.
"We have built our business on the basis of being able to successfully compete with other glyphosate suppliers," Mr McKinnon said.
"We certainly support a competitive market, but we want to compete on a fair basis."
Mr McKinnon said Nufarm has a major capital investment to protect and would continue to reinvest significant sums in new glyphosate-based products.
"We have a long-term commitment to continue supplying Australian farmers with locally developed products which aid productivity and, in turn, help those farmers compete with other agricultural exporting nations," he said.
Mr Mortimore said 4Farmers would fight the application on behalf of farmers.
"We will be putting a strong case forward and hope to include information from the Chinese also," he said.
Submissions close on March 19, 2012.
Email a friend