The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has sent a potash antitrust case against major global producers, Minn-Chem Inc. v. Agrium Inc., back for trial before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. In an 8-0 decision issued June 27, the court reversed its own two-judge panel, which had earlier decided that the complaint failed to meet the requirements of the Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvements Act of 1982. The court said the district court correctly ruled that the complaint does state a claim under federal antitrust laws. While ruling that the case could proceed, the lower court had allowed the appeal. The defendants—Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., The Mosaic Co., Agrium Inc., Uralkali, Belaruskali, Silvinit and IPC, are accused of price-fixing. The plaintiffs, U.S. potash buyers, alleged that the defendants, which produce 71 percent of the world’s potash, initiated a cartel which beginning in mid-2003 drove prices up some 600 percent by 2008.
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