Phosphate rock: Characteristics
Cadmium, magnesium and the hunt for clean rock
What this tab covers The supply and physical characteristics of the commodity. Supply: current production, inventories and stocks, capacity utilisation, geographic and producer concentration, how fast supply responds to price, the project pipeline and capital spending, and logistics and export flows. Material: the physical and chemical properties that set its grade, price and end uses (for example purity and conductivity for metals, API gravity, sulfur and energy content for fuels, moisture, protein and fibre quality for crops).Supply volume characteristics
| Characteristic | Figure | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current production volume | about 250 Mt of marketable rock (2025e), up 5% | China 110 Mt, Morocco 36 Mt, US 20 Mt, Russia 14 Mt, Jordan 12 Mt, Saudi Arabia 10 Mt. World P2O5 used in fertiliser was 47.8 Mt. | USGS MCS 2026, Phosphate Rock |
| Inventory and stock levels | US producer stocks 8.4 Mt at end-2025, about 21 weeks of US consumption | Derived from 8.4 Mt stocks against 21 Mt apparent consumption. No strategic stockpiles. India's DAP stocks are monitored by the Department of Fertilizers but were not in the sources used. | USGS MCS 2026 (weeks derived) |
| Capacity utilisation | about 75% of world phosphate capacity (47.8 Mt P2O5 fertiliser use against 63.7 Mt P2O5 capacity, 2025) | Derived and approximate, since capacity also serves feed and industry. Nutrien ran its phosphate plants at an 80% operating rate in 2025. | USGS MCS 2026 (derived); Nutrien 2025 MD&A |
| Geographic and producer concentration | China 44.1%, top-3 (China, Morocco, Russia) 66.4%; HHI 2,327 (2024) | Moderately concentrated. Morocco holds 68% of world reserves (50,000 of 73,000 Mt). OCP, Mosaic, Ma'aden, PhosAgro and Chinese state firms lead; company shares are not published consistently. | World Mining Data 2026; USGS MCS 2026 |
| Supply elasticity | short run medium (spare acid capacity); long run low: about 5-10 years for a new mine and acid complex (indicative) | Chinese export quotas swing seaborne supply more than any mine decision. Acid plants also need sulfur and ammonia, both disrupted in 2026. | USGS MCS 2026; content tile |
| Project pipeline and CapEx | capacity to rise to 71.7 Mt P2O5 by 2029 from 63.7 Mt | Rock expansions in Brazil, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Morocco and Russia by 2028; new mines in Canada, Congo (Brazzaville), Guinea-Bissau and Senegal after 2028; a new Idaho mine approved in Oct 2025. Coromandel added a 650 t/day phosphoric acid plant at Kakinada. | USGS MCS 2026; Coromandel FY26 results |
| Logistics and export flows | rock export value $3.62 billion (2024); India 40.4% of rock import value | Rock, phosphoric acid and DAP all move in bulk. Morocco exports from Jorf Lasfar and Safi; Jordan from Aqaba; Peru from Bayóvar. Gulf shipping risk in 2026 hit sulfur and ammonia inputs as well as Saudi DAP. | Comtrade 2024; content tile |
Material characteristics Industrial mineral
Phosphate rock is valued by its phosphorus content (P2O5) and by impurities that raise acid use or contaminate fertiliser. Processors prefer rock low in magnesium, iron and aluminium, chloride and cadmium. Sedimentary rock is cheaper but dirtier; igneous apatite is cleaner. Downstream, DAP and MAP are sold on fixed nutrient grades.
| Property | Value / specification | Why it matters | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| P2O5 grade | marketable rock typically 28-34% P2O5 (BPL = 2.185 x P2O5) (indicative) | Price is quoted per tonne at a stated grade; lower grades raise acid and freight per unit of P | Industry practice (indicative); USGS |
| Cadmium | EU limit 60 mg Cd per kg P2O5 in phosphate fertilisers | Low-cadmium igneous rock earns a premium in Europe | EU Fertilising Products Regulation 2019/1009 |
| CaO:P2O5 ratio | about 1.3-1.6 (indicative) | Excess calcium consumes sulfuric acid and makes more phosphogypsum | Industry practice (indicative) |
| MgO and iron plus aluminium oxides | MgO usually under about 1%; minor element ratio watched closely (indicative) | Impurities slow acid filtration and lower DAP grade | Industry practice (indicative) |
| Fluorine and radioactivity | fluorine about 3-4%; uranium often 50-200 ppm in sedimentary rock (indicative) | Fluorine is scrubbed as fluorosilicic acid; radium ends up in phosphogypsum | Industry data (indicative) |
| Product grades | DAP 18-46-0, MAP 11-52-0 (N-P2O5-K2O) | Traded fertilisers must meet these nutrient guarantees | Standard grades; India Fertiliser (Control) Order |