Reviewed September 2026 against USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA Economic Research Service, and farmdoc daily (University of Illinois).

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Triple Superphosphate Fertilizer: What It Is, How It’s Made, and What It Costs

Triple superphosphate (TSP) is a granular phosphate fertilizer containing 44–46% phosphorus pentoxide (P₂O₅), made by reacting phosphate rock with phosphoric acid rather than sulfuric acid. That single substitution is what separates it from single superphosphate (SSP, 16–20% P₂O₅) and is also the answer to “how is superphosphate made” at industrial scale. TSP is a straight phosphate product — no nitrogen — which is why growers searching for a “high-nitrogen fertilizer” or “high N fertilizer” for corn or wheat need a different bag entirely, and we cover that distinction directly below rather than making you guess.
Label terms can be confusing, so what P2O5 means on a bag explains the conversion and how to work out application amounts.

This page focuses on three things an AI summary won’t hand you: current US regional pricing context for phosphate fertilizers from USDA’s own market reports, actual application-rate data by crop from USDA NASS and farmdoc daily, and a calculator that turns your own acreage and local quoted price into a per-acre phosphorus cost. Where a figure — like current US TSP production tonnage — simply isn’t published anywhere public, we say so and point you to where to look instead of guessing.

How Superphosphate Is Made: The Chemistry

TSP production starts with finely ground phosphate rock (mostly tricalcium phosphate) reacted with concentrated phosphoric acid:

The product of that reaction is monocalcium phosphate — the same water-soluble, plant-available phosphorus form found in single superphosphate, just far more concentrated because phosphoric acid (not sulfuric acid) does the converting. That’s also why TSP carries minimal sulfur, unlike SSP, which retains gypsum as a byproduct. Key production facts, per US EPA/USDA technical documentation:

• 📃 Concentration: 44–46% P₂O₅ in TSP vs. 16–20% in SSP — roughly 2.5x the phosphorus per ton shipped.
• 🌊 Solubility: Monocalcium phosphate is immediately plant-available, not a slow-release form.
• ⛏️ Historical US capacity: US TSP production capacity was documented at roughly 3.5 million tons in 1989 by the EPA/USDA Field Office Technical Guide — the most recent federal baseline figure available; more below on why a current federal number doesn’t exist.
• 🔬 Granule form: Fine, uniform granules blend cleanly with other dry fertilizers in the same spreader pass.

“High N” and High-Nitrogen Fertilizers vs. TSP

If you landed here searching “high n fertilizer,” “nitrogen high fertilizer,” or “high-nitrogen fertilizer,” it’s worth being direct: TSP is not a nitrogen product. It’s 0-46-0 on a standard fertilizer label — all phosphorus, zero N, zero K. Growers looking for high-nitrogen options for corn or wheat are typically choosing between urea (46-0-0), UAN solutions (28-0-0 or 32-0-0), or ammonium sulfate (21-0-0-24S), none of which carry meaningful phosphorus.

Where TSP and high-N products intersect is in blended programs. A product like Yaramila Complex — a compound NPK fertilizer manufactured by Yara using nitric-phosphate technology — bundles nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (plus secondary nutrients like sulfur and magnesium in some grades) into one granule, which is a different design philosophy than TSP’s single-nutrient concentration. TSP is chosen specifically when a grower or blender wants to dial phosphorus independently of nitrogen — for example, correcting a soil-test phosphorus deficiency without adding more N than a crop’s nitrogen program already calls for. Compound products like Yaramila trade that flexibility for application convenience and consistent nutrient ratios in every granule.
Where one balanced product suits better than separate straights, when 13-13-13 fertilizer makes sense is worth a read.

Actual US nitrogen application rates, for context on how much N complements a phosphorus program: corn nitrogen use averaged 151.8 lbs/acre in 2024 (USDA NASS data via farmdoc daily), and wheat averaged 77.15 lbs/acre nationally the same year. USDA NASS’s Washington state chemical-use report breaks wheat down further for the 2024 crop year: winter wheat at 67 lbs N/acre, spring wheat at 99 lbs N/acre, and durum wheat at 82 lbs N/acre. None of that nitrogen comes from a bag of TSP — it comes from separate N sources applied in the same program.

US Application Rates: Corn, Wheat, Soybeans

Phosphate application trends move differently by crop, and the direction has been consistent for two decades. Per farmdoc daily’s analysis of USDA data covering 2002–2024: corn phosphate fertilizer application rose 11.2%, soybean phosphate application rose 10%, while wheat phosphate application actually fell 8.9% over the same period. At the same time, nitrogen-use efficiency for corn — yield produced per unit of nitrogen applied — improved by roughly 20% per bushel over that 22-year span, reflecting better hybrids, timing, and placement rather than heavier application.

For actual current phosphorus (P₂O₅) application rates in lbs/acre by crop — as opposed to the percentage trend above — USDA’s Economic Research Service publishes the underlying tables at ERS Fertilizer Use and Price: download the Excel workbook and check tables 9–14 for corn, 21–26 for soybeans, and 27–32 for wheat. Be aware the most recent crop-specific application-rate survey data in that workbook extends only through 2018 — USDA has not run a full follow-up survey at that granularity since, so a lbs/acre figure quoted as “current” for P₂O₅ specifically should be treated skeptically unless it cites that same workbook vintage.

TSP vs. DAP vs. MAP vs. Yaramila Complex

For growers deciding between phosphate sources, the practical differences come down to nutrient analysis, nitrogen carryover, and current delivered price. USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service tracks DAP and MAP regionally — Illinois cash prices in July 2026 stood at $882.78/ton for DAP (18-46-0) and $1,201.47/ton for MAP (11-52-0), per the AMS Illinois Production Cost Report. AMS does not track TSP as a separate line in that report, which is why TSP pricing has to come from a distributor or regional supplier quote rather than a federal number — treat any “current TSP price” you see elsewhere as a distributor quote, not a USDA figure, unless it’s sourced.

Reading this table for a buying decision: if your soil test shows a phosphorus deficiency but your nitrogen program is already dialed in from a separate urea or UAN application, TSP lets you add P₂O₅ without also adding nitrogen you don’t need — DAP and MAP both force extra nitrogen along with the phosphorus. If you want one granule carrying N, P, and K together for simpler blending logistics, that’s the Yaramila Complex use case instead.

Phosphorus Cost Calculator

Use your own acreage, target P₂O₅ rate, and a current local quote to estimate what a phosphate application will actually cost — TSP’s 44–46% analysis means fewer tons per acre than a lower-analysis product for the same nutrient delivery.

Assumes uniform field application with no variable-rate zones, excludes freight/spreading fees and any nitrogen or potash value in blended products (DAP/MAP nitrogen content is not credited separately here), and treats analysis percentage as a fixed constant rather than a bag-specific guarantee. Confirm your supplier’s actual tagged analysis before ordering.

Production Volumes and Where TSP Comes From

Global TSP production hit 5.8 million metric tons in 2024, the highest annual volume in a decade, per Statista's tracking of the market. Within North America specifically, US facilities account for an estimated 75–80% of Northern America's TSP production capacity, and 85–90% of that regional supply goes to agricultural use — the remainder is absorbed by industrial and electronic-grade phosphate applications, according to IndexBox Market Intelligence's 2024 Northern America TSP market analysis.

On a current-year US production number specifically: it doesn't exist at the federal level. The only federal baseline is the EPA/USDA Field Office Technical Guide figure of roughly 3.5 million tons of US TSP production capacity, and that figure dates to 1989 — it has not been updated by any federal agency since. If you need a present-day US production or market-value figure, that data lives in proprietary industry research (Statista, IndexBox, or a service like Intratec for pricing specifically) rather than in a government report, so budget for a paid data license if your use case requires it.

Phosphate Mining and Water: What the Concern Actually Is

Phosphate rock mining — the raw material behind TSP, DAP, MAP, and SSP alike — carries well-documented water-related impacts distinct from the fertilizer application questions above: process water use at beneficiation plants, tailings pond management, and the risk of phosphogypsum stack leachate reaching groundwater or surface water near mining and processing sites. These are mine-site and processing-site concerns, separate from field-level runoff from fertilizer application, and the distinction matters if you're researching either topic — a search for how mining affects water areas is asking about the extraction and processing stage, not about a field where TSP has already been spread.

Farmonaut's satellite-based mineral detection approach to phosphate exploration is built around avoiding exactly this category of impact at the discovery stage: identifying phosphate-rich deposits remotely, before any ground disturbance, drilling, or water draw-down has to happen just to confirm a resource exists. That doesn't eliminate water considerations at the eventual mine site, but it removes the exploration-phase footprint entirely. More on how that process works for phosphate specifically is covered in Farmonaut's phosphate mining and metallurgy trends analysis.

Satellite Tools for Phosphate Resource Discovery and Crop-Side Precision Use

Two separate technology threads matter to the TSP supply chain: upstream resource discovery, and downstream precision application. Farmonaut works on both. On the discovery side, our satellite-based mineral detection platform analyzes multispectral and hyperspectral satellite data to flag phosphate-rich geology for follow-up ground surveys — cutting the area a ground team has to physically walk before finding a viable target.

For organizations that need a deeper look before committing to fieldwork, our satellite-driven 3D mineral prospectivity mapping report lays out subsurface confidence zones for phosphate and other critical minerals ahead of drilling.

On the crop side, the same satellite-analytics discipline supports precision nutrient management: pairing soil-test data with field-zone imagery so a TSP, DAP, or MAP application goes exactly where soil-test phosphorus is actually low, rather than blanket-rating a whole field. That's covered in more practical depth in our resource-efficient agriculture guide, which walks through the input-timing and zone-mapping side of the equation this article's pricing and chemistry focus doesn't.

FAQ

Key Takeaways

• ✔ TSP is 44–46% P₂O₅, zero nitrogen — made with phosphoric acid instead of SSP's sulfuric acid, which is the entire "how is superphosphate made" answer in one line.
• ✔ Searching for "high N" or "high-nitrogen" fertilizer? That's urea, UAN, or ammonium sulfate — not TSP, which carries no nitrogen at all.
• ✔ DAP was $882.78/ton and MAP $1,201.47/ton in Illinois in July 2026 per USDA AMS; TSP isn't tracked federally, so get a distributor quote and check AMS's biweekly reports for the current DAP/MAP baseline.
• ✔ Corn phosphate use rose 11.2% and soybean 10% from 2002–2024, while wheat phosphate use fell 8.9% over the same span, per farmdoc daily.
• ✔ Global TSP production hit a decade-high 5.8 million metric tons in 2024, and the US supplies an estimated 75–80% of Northern America's TSP capacity.
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