Analysis of an Emerging Market : Can Methyl Iodide Substitute for Methyl Bromide?

Recent amendments to the Montreal Protocol specify a 100% reduction in methyl bromide consumption in all developed countries by the year 2005 (except for "critical uses"). In this paper we consider one possible chemical substitute to methyl bromide, methyl iodide, that until recently has received little attention as a potential alternative. We examine the viability of methyl iodide using information from studies of the economic benefits of methyl bromide to California agricultural producers and of methyl iodide effectiveness in pre-plant fumigation experiments, and from an assessment of the world market for iodine