Compared to currency data which tends to fluctuate with the market and cannot accurately reflect the effects of human activities on resources use efficiency and environmental sustainability, the assessment accuracy of the effects can be further improved by constant mass data of elements contained in materials and products within socioeconomic system, e.g. phosphorus mass data for its use efficiency assessment in the case of Zhangzhou city in China Huang et al., 2019. Firstly, the mass data of products and raw materials were sourced or assessed mainly from government statistical year books or bulletins. Secondly, the phosphorus contents in materials were derived mainly from literature. Finally, the mass of phosphorus flows throughout food production-consumption system in Zhangzhou prefecture, Fujian province, China was accounted by mass balance accounting based on substance flow analysis. These data include the following parts: input/output phosphorus flows across the jurisdiction boundary of Zhangzhou city; phosphorus flows into or out of agricultural production subsystems such as crop farming, livestock, and aquaculture; phosphorus flows into or out of human consumption subsystem; phosphorus flows across subsystems. Part of reference data related to phosphorus mass balance accounting was also presented.