Phosphate Rock

The fertilizer and feed mineral that cannot be synthesized, only mined.

Overview

Morocco holds the majority of world reserves and exports rock and processed fertilizer, China is the top producer, and the US, from Florida and Idaho, is mostly self supplied. Diammonium phosphate is the traded finished benchmark. Chinese export restrictions, run to control domestic fertilizer costs, swing world supply, and sulfur and ammonia input costs set the production curve. Like all fertilizer, demand is inelastic, so prices boom when supply hiccups, as in 2008 and 2021. Eutrophication rules shape application in Europe, and debates over century scale reserve horizons recur. One Moroccan state company anchors the entire export market.