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This article will outline the historical transition in the flow of phosphorus in steelmaking technology, and examine the current and future phosphorus flow in steel production and the peripheral steelmaking processes. History provides many instances of innovative changes in steelmaking processes driven by various issues associated with raw materials which emerged over time, such as supply, quality and cost issues. The major steel countries with a long history, including Sweden and Japan, have shown flexibility in their ability to adapt to the changes in the value of resources and geopolitical conditions over times, and have enacted survival resource utilization measures over many centuries, leading to improvements in their respective steelmaking processes. Considering these success stories, it stands to reason that the ideal state of steelmaking is one with a clear stance with regard to resource policy.

The BACI trade statistics for 2005 were analyzed to determine the dependency of Asian countries on phosphorus, in particular for phosphorus ore, yellow phosphorus, chemicals, and fertilizers. The data revealed a complex set of patterns, with some countries relying heavily on just one or two countries to meet their commodity needs, and others drawing from a wide range of sources. In many cases, a strong dependency was noted on a country which itself was heavily dependent on another source for its commodity needs. Considering the geopolitical issues at hand, it is essential that special attention is paid to maintaining a stable supply of phosphorus to ensure stability in agricultural production as well as in the many industries which use chemicals containing phosphorus..

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