Abstract
Although dominated by the forces of competition over the past 50 years, with relatively easy entry and exit of new producers and plentiful reserves, the phosphate industry and phosphate markets have experienced several interesting episodes during this period. These have been associated with the attempted establishment of a producer cartel during the mid-1970s, the significant but declining presence of state-owned production, the demise of the Soviet Union and the recent minerals boom. While noting the significance of the earlier events, the particular focus of this paper is on the events of the past two decades and likely development in the foreseeable future. The authors utilise the standard supply and demand framework developing their discussion.
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Notes
This statement is based on estimates using prices received by US producers and the US Producer Price Index as the price deflator. Authors such as Svedberg and Tilton (2006) have recently challenged the validity of using this approach.
During this period, phosphate producers attempted to follow the example of OPEC in establishing a cartel. Crowson (2006) provides a brief explanation of how their actions failed because of a subsequent global recession and farmers ceasing to apply phosphate fertilisers to their crops.
See for example sources such as Informine (2011).
Though Jordan is not one of the four major phosphate rock-producing nations, its production data are typically representative of all producers. The availability of these data to the authors made its use in various parts of the paper attractive to illustrate points in our argument.
British Sulphur Consultants (2006) ranked mines in Florida, Morocco, China and Australia as low cost producers. Medium-cost producing mines were located in Jordan, Israel, Brazil, Russia, Tunisia and Senegal. High cost producers were in South Africa, Togo, Idaho and Utah.
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al Rawashdeh, R., Maxwell, P. The evolution and prospects of the phosphate industry. Miner Econ 24, 15–27 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13563-011-0003-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13563-011-0003-8