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Researchers Hinnerk Gnutzmann and Piotr Spiewanowski found that an international export cartel for fertilizers played a significant role in the 2007/2008 food crisis, explaining up to 60% of the price increase. Fertilizer costs are a large component of industrial agriculture, and the cartel's ability to exert pricing power on fertilizer contributed to the crisis. The study estimates that fertilizer accounts for a 42% cost share in the World Bank's general food price index, and that the cartel imposed an average price overcharge of 63% in the years 2008-2012. The researchers suggest that the fertilizer cartel's impact on food prices has been overlooked in previous studies, and that addressing the lack of competition in the fertilizer industry could help stabilize food markets.