rock phosphate rises to $110 us fob morrocco, page-38

' have heard this claim before but never found any evidence of it, not even in MAK's own "Peak Phosphate" document.'

It's fact. Plenty of evidence, you just need to do some research. Based on your comments I dont think you're fully aware of the Moroccan situation at all. Morocco is no longer subsidised. They have depleted their sources of low-cost phosphate production, the stuff at the top of the mound, so they no longer have the same control. Morroco aren't interested in whether MAK will get a mine up and then undercut them. MAK is a small player in the scheme of things. US and China also have large supplies but as we saw last year, they are very loath to export as supplies slowly deplete and prices become more volatile. Back to Morroco, there's also the small issue of sovereignty. They mine in the Western Sahara which has been in dispute as Algeria has claim to this area. Many countries will not import from Morocco as they believe it is not their country they are mining.

You mentioned phosphate price is controlled by supply and demand. Can you tell me why for years and years the price hardly moved? It is certainly a supply and demand factor now, still a little more complex than that due to the credit crunch and the biofuels influence, but I dont expect that phosphate will ever be going back to the controlled and fixed proicing of the Moroccan phosphate era.