Phosphorus as the Strategic Natural Resource of the 21st Century

... so-called “phosphorus peak” passed unnoticed at the turn of the century. This is not some achievement to be proud of, because it means that we have no reason to hope for a decrease in world phosphate prices, and that closer to mid-century phosphorus scarcity will set in. Soon after this discovery, China stopped exporting raw phosphates, while the US stopped exporting phosphate fertilisers and started buying more and more of them from North Africa. Markets were unsettled, and in 2008 were hit by a first shock: within a few months, world phosphate prices skyrocketed 4 times....