As with most globally-traded commodities, the market for phosphate fertilizers is cyclical, with periods of high prices attracting investment and low prices leading to rationalisation and consolidation. The cyclical nature of the market is clearly evident in Figure 1 below. The cyclical bottom of 1993 was a direct result of the collapse of the USSR and the subsequent shock this sent through the fertilizer and crop markets. As the US producers were acting as the swing suppliers at the time, the result on operations there was the consolidation and rationalisation of several companies (several West European producers suffered a similar fate). This was followed
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