What is it?
Rock full of the element phosphorus — the P in fertiliser, and now the P in the LFP batteries used in most new electric cars in China.
Why does it matter?
No plant grows without phosphorus and there is no synthetic substitute. The same rock now also feeds the cheapest, safest lithium-battery chemistry.
Deeper written sections for this material have not been published yet. Everything below is drawn straight from the source datasets and is complete.
Where it comes from in the rock
All ore minerals →These are the minerals that actually carry phosphate rock. A deposit is only an orebody if one of them is concentrated enough to pay for digging it up.
Who produces it
See it on a map →Mine production
Mine productionthousand metric tons 2025 (estimated) World total 250,000 thousand metric tons
USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 · Tonnages are gross weight of marketable phosphate rock, not contained P2O5. · source ↗
Scroll the table sideways for the remaining columns.
| Country | Production | Share of world |
|---|---|---|
| China | 110,000 | 44.0% |
| Morocco | 36,000 | 14.4% |
| United States | 20,000 | 8.0% |
| Russia | 14,000 | 5.6% |
| Jordan | 12,000 | 4.8% |
| Saudi Arabia | 10,000 | 4.0% |
| Egypt | 5,500 | 2.2% |
| Brazil | 5,000 | 2.0% |
| Peru | 4,800 | 1.9% |
| Tunisia | 3,300 | 1.3% |
| Vietnam | 3,000 | 1.2% |
| Senegal | 2,800 | 1.1% |
| Australia | 2,500 | 1.0% |
| Israel | 2,400 | 1.0% |
| South Africa | 2,200 | 0.9% |
| Algeria | 2,000 | 0.8% |
| Kazakhstan | 1,900 | 0.8% |
| Togo | 1,600 | 0.6% |
| India | 1,500 | 0.6% |
| Turkey | 1,200 | 0.5% |
| Finland | 980.0 | 0.4% |
| Uzbekistan | 950.0 | 0.4% |
| Syria | 800.0 | 0.3% |
| Other countries | 770.0 | 0.3% |
| Mexico | 450.0 | 0.2% |
| World total | 250,000 | 100% |
“Withheld” means the USGS suppressed the figure to avoid disclosing an individual company's data — it does not mean zero. Country rows do not always sum to the world total because the source rounds each figure independently and does not always break out an “other countries” line.
Who holds the reserves
Reserves
Reservesthousand metric tons 2025
USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 · source ↗
| Country | Reserves | Share of world |
|---|---|---|
| Morocco | 50,000,000 | 68.5% |
| China | 3,400,000 | 4.7% |
| Egypt | 2,800,000 | 3.8% |
| Tunisia | 2,500,000 | 3.4% |
| Russia | 2,400,000 | 3.3% |
| Algeria | 2,200,000 | 3.0% |
| Brazil | 1,600,000 | 2.2% |
| South Africa | 1,500,000 | 2.1% |
| Saudi Arabia | 1,000,000 | 1.4% |
| Finland | 1,000,000 | 1.4% |
| United States | 1,000,000 | 1.4% |
| Jordan | 820,000 | 1.1% |
| Australia | 800,000 | 1.1% |
| Other countries | 800,000 | 1.1% |
| Kazakhstan | 260,000 | 0.4% |
| Syria | 250,000 | 0.3% |
| Peru | 210,000 | 0.3% |
| Uzbekistan | 100,000 | 0.1% |
| Turkey | 71,000 | 0.1% |
| Israel | 60,000 | 0.1% |
| Senegal | 50,000 | 0.1% |
| India | 31,000 | 0.0% |
| Togo | 30,000 | 0.0% |
| Mexico | 30,000 | 0.0% |
| Vietnam | 30,000 | 0.0% |
| World total | 73,000,000 | 100% |
Price
average value, f.o.b. mine, dollars per metric ton
Annual averagedollars per metric ton
Basis: average value, f.o.b. mine, dollars per metric ton. Annual averages as published in USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 · source ↗. These are reference annual averages, not a live market quote.
Mines that produce it
All mines →
Where it is processed and refined
| Plant | Kind | Stage | Country | Role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CATL Ningde Plants | Gigafactory | Component | China | Input |
What it is used for
All end markets →| End market | What it does there | Importance |
|---|---|---|
| Electric Vehicles | The cathode in LFP cells | Defining |
| Agriculture & Food | The P in NPK | Defining |
| Grid Storage | LFP cathode | Defining |
How much of it a technology needs
| Technology | Quantity | Quoted | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| LFP Lithium-Ion Battery | 25.00–45.00 kg | per 75 kWh pack | As phosphate in the cathode |
Indicative range compiled from published technology studies and chemistry; verify against a manufacturer specification before use. Run these numbers at any scale in the material calculator →
