NEW YORK — A U.S. federal appeals court threw out an antitrust lawsuit in which purchasers of potash accused seven major producers of running a global conspiracy to raise the price of the mineral.
Reversing a lower court order, the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago said the plaintiffs did not show a strong enough link between the alleged anti-competitive activity outside the United States and a 600 percent surge in U.S. potash prices from 2003 to 2008.
Defendants included Canada's Agrium and Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan, Mosaic, and companies that conduct mining operations in Russia and Belarus: Uralkali, Silvinit, Belarussian Potash and International Potash.
(Reuters)
