In terms of quantity produced, red phosphorus is much less important than white phosphorus. The worldwide production is currently about 6 ^. 10³ t/a.

The conversion of white phosphorus to red phosphorus is an exothermic reaction producing red phosphorus as a solid product, making removal from the reaction difficult. In a modern process developed by Hoescht A.G. (FRG), the conversion is carried out semi-continuously in a ball mill at 350°C. Mills with a volume of ca. 5m3 are filled with 3.7 t of iron shot of different diameters. The white phosphorus is fed into the ball mill at a rate such that the reaction temperature is kept constant by the heat of reaction released. The ball mills are at most only half filled. After tempering and cooling, water is added and the red phosphorus ground to a suspension. Heating with sodium hydroxide then removes the residual white phosphorus. The red phosphorus is then filtered off and dried under inert gas. The red phosphorus can be stabilized against autooxidation e.g. by mixing with small quantities of magnesium oxide. Red phosphorus is twice as expensive as white phosphorus.