Phosphorus

Overview

Phosphorus is a non-metallic element that never occurs uncombined in nature. It is made by heating phosphate rock with carbon and silica in a furnace; the phosphorus comes off as a vapor and is condensed under water.¹

This page covers the element itself, often called white or yellow phosphorus (P₄). It is a different commodity from phosphate rock, the mined mineral. Most phosphate rock goes straight into fertilizers, and only a small part of it is turned into elemental phosphorus.²

Elemental phosphorus is critical for the EU because the bloc has no production and imports all of it. The Commission's 2023 assessment gave it a supply-risk score of 3.3, well above the criticality threshold of 1.0.³

Where it comes from

Elemental phosphorus is made only in electrothermal reducing furnaces, a very energy-intensive process that uses about 14 MWh of electricity per tonne of phosphorus, roughly as much as a tonne of aluminum. World output is not precisely known; the Commission estimated it at about 1.2 million t of P₄ a year in 2012–2016.²

China dominates. It accounted for 87% of world production in 2016, though most of its output is used at home. Kazakhstan was the main supplier to world markets, and Vietnam expanded capacity over the previous decade. The only other operating plants at the time were a single facility in the United States and plants in Kazakhstan and Vietnam.² The Commission's 2023 assessment put global supply shares at China 79%, the United States 11%, Kazakhstan 6% and Vietnam 5%.³

There is no elemental phosphorus production in the EU, and phosphate rock mined in the EU is not used to make it.² In the United States, part of domestic phosphate rock output is still smelted into elemental phosphorus.⁴

What it is used for

Elemental phosphorus is the raw material for a wide range of phosphorus chemicals. Uses include flame retardants, lubricant and oil additives, pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, industrial water treatment, anti-scaling agents, emulsifiers, nickel plating, catalysts and luminescent materials.² In the United States, the main use is to make phosphorus compounds for the herbicide glyphosate.⁴

The element itself is also used in flares and incendiary devices, and red phosphorus is used in matches.¹ The Commission lists chemical and defense applications as its main uses.³

For many of these uses there is no substitute. The Commission sets substitution for elemental phosphorus at zero because many of the chemicals made from it have no alternative.²

Grades and forms

White phosphorus is highly reactive and poisonous. It is therefore usually converted soon after production into "holding derivatives" such as phosphorus trichloride, which can be transported and used to make other phosphorus chemicals.²

Trade and policy

The EU consumed about 48,300 t of P₄ a year in 2012–2016, all of it imported; Kazakhstan supplied about 71% of imports, followed by China and Vietnam. China and Kazakhstan applied export taxes or restrictions on phosphorus in that period.² The Commission's 2023 assessment found that Kazakhstan supplied 62% of EU sourcing, Vietnam 22% and China 13%.³

This section is factual background, not legal or trade-compliance advice.

Recycling and substitution

No functional recycling of elemental phosphorus exists, and the Commission puts its end-of-life recycling input rate at 0%.³ Processes to make P₄ from phosphorus-rich wastes, such as sewage sludge ash or meat and bone meal ash, had reached only pilot scale by the time of the 2020 assessment.²

Worldwide, producers of high-purity phosphoric acid have gradually shifted from elemental phosphorus to purified wet-process acid, which costs less and avoids the hazardous wastes of the thermal route. Even so, the thermal route still accounted for more than half of the world's high-purity phosphoric acid capacity, mainly in China.²

Sources

1. Phosphorus: element information, properties and uses. Royal Society of Chemistry, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩²

2. Study on the EU's list of Critical Raw Materials (2020): Factsheets on Critical Raw Materials. European Commission, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰

3. Study on the Critical Raw Materials for the EU 2023 – Final Report. European Commission, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

4. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Phosphate Rock. U.S. Geological Survey, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩²