Phosphate demand drops for CI Resources

The once hot commodity, phosphate, appears to be affected by the global meltdown with miner Phosphate Resources Ltd today saying it has had a "sharp and marked" slowdown in demand from its Asian markets.

Phosphate said the current financial market instability has hit its Malaysian and Indonesian market, with the company monitoring the situation on a daily basis.

However it said it is optimistic it can "weather the current storms and continue to maintain a sound financial base into the future provided demand rebounds within a reasonable time frame".

Earlier this month, Phosphate announced an unaudited first quarter pre-tax profit of $36.1 million on the back of a record shipment of 262,310 tonnes of phosphate from its Christmas Island operations, up by 35,000 over last year's corresponding period.

Earlier this year, phosphate was touted as the next big thing, with prices soaring from $US42 per tonne to around $US400/t on the back of a projected increase in demand estimated at 2.1 per cent each year until 2020.

Perth company CI Resources Ltd has a 38.77 per cent interest in Phosphate Resources, making it the stock's largest shareholder.