A massive underground deposit of high-grade phosphate rock recently discovered in Norway is big enough to satisfy world demand for fertilisers, solar panels and electric car batteries over the next 100 years, according to the company exploiting the resource.
Despite this vast resource, prices will remain the same?
I hope so. There’s enough phosphate being dumped on fields and washed into waterways already.
That will not stop for the foreseeable future, as it would require a common understanding among all EU countries to reform the farming subsidy system. We currently see in the Netherlands and northern Germany, that they rather poison the water supply with nitrate and pay large fines to the EU than reducing the use of mineral fertilizers.
Ironically the abhorrent use of fertilizers destroys the soil, so eventually they are stuck with using the fertilizers or let the fields recover for years. It’s like a severe alcohol addiction and no politician has the balls to put agriculture into rehab.
Norway has strict labour and environmental laws. If anything, it will continue to rise as demand increases steadily. And that’s probably for the best. Some countries are doing some heavy reasearch in recycling phosphate and lithium components. That means less waste and more indepedence. A drop in price could eliminate these environmental friendly plans.