Given cheaper labour, cheaper fertilizer, cheaper grain, cheaper land it is only a matter of time until the Chinese learn to be efficient and really start making giant profits.
Manyfarmerswere able to postponecostincreases through hedgingstrategiesor by buyingfertilizer, chemicalsandothersupplies in bulkin 2006 or 2007, when theywere cheaper.
Cost pressures, namely competition from cheaper foreign fertilizer, caused other domestic plants to fold, many in the wake of the natural gas price spike after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.