#83 Bi

Bismuth Price

Strategic Metal Export Licence

Lead-free solder alternative; used in pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.

Main trade forms: Metal ingot
Available from: CN, VN, MX, JP

Last update: 2026-03-15
3 records

Retail Reference

$11/kg

Metal 99.99% (4N) · 1 kg

Edgetech Industries · CN · 2026-03-15

Bulk Benchmark

No commodity benchmark available

Export Licence Chinese export licence required for Bismuth in all controlled forms. Regulatory Tracker →

Bismuth has been under MOFCOM/GAC export licensing since 4 February 2025 (Announcement No. 10/2025), alongside W, Te, Mo, and In [2]. The control covers Bi metal, Bi₂O₃, bismuth subsalicylate, and a range of compounds.

Western bismuth spot prices have moved sharply since the controls took effect, with several FOB-China benchmarks more than doubling between Q4 2024 and Q4 2025.

Applications

Application	Role	Significance
Pharmaceuticals	Bismuth subsalicylate (Pepto-Bismol), bismuth subcitrate	~30% of Bi demand. OTC anti-diarrhoeal and H. pylori treatment. Produced at scale by Procter & Gamble and Takeda.
Lead-free solder & alloys	Sn–Bi, Sn–Ag–Bi solders and Bi-based fusible alloys	RoHS-compliant solder alternative; low-melting alloys for fire sprinklers, fuses, casting molds
Pigments & cosmetics	Bismuth oxychloride pearlescent pigment	Cosmetic shimmer effect in eye shadow, nail polish, lipstick
Free-machining steels	Bi addition replacing lead in cutting steels	RoHS/REACH-compliant Pb-free machining steel for automotive parts
Catalysts	Bi–Mo oxide catalyst (acrylonitrile production)	SOHIO process for converting propylene + ammonia to acrylonitrile

Market & Supply

Global refined production ~17,000 t/year [4]

China refining share ~80%

Source Pb/Cu smelter by-product

Other producers Laos, South Korea, Japan, Mexico

Export control MOFCOM No. 10/2025 [2]

Bi metal benchmark $10–$22/lb (Argus FOB China)

Retail metal (1 kg) $60–$150/kg

Retail crystal art $120–$400/kg

Verified Offers

Bismuth is one of the most retail-accessible elements on this site — ingots, shot, and hopper-crystal art pieces are widely sold on Amazon, eBay, and Alibaba at sub-kilogram scale. The auto-rendered table shows tracked listings.

Date	Form	Purity	USD/kg	Seller	Country
2026-03-15	Metal	99.99% (4N)	$16	Stanford Advanced Materials	US
2026-03-15	Metal	99.99% (4N)	$11	Edgetech Industries	CN
2026-03-15	Metal	99.99% (4N)	$13	ALB Materials	CN

Important Notes

Licence regime active MOFCOM No. 10/2025 [2] requires Chinese export licences for Bi metal, Bi₂O₃, and bismuth pharmaceuticals. Pharmaceutical APIs are subject to additional dual-classification scrutiny.

Co-product constraint Bismuth is recovered from lead and copper smelter dross. Production cannot scale independently of base-metal smelting throughput; new Bi capacity requires modifying anode-slime treatment circuits at integrated smelters.

Pharmaceutical exposure Bismuth subsalicylate (Pepto-Bismol) and bismuth subcitrate (H. pylori triple therapy) are off-patent OTC and Rx products. A meaningful Chinese Bi licensing slowdown would propagate into hospital and OTC supply within 6–12 months.

Physical Properties [1]

Z: 83 · A_r: 208.980 u · ρ: 9.78 g/cm³ · T_m: 271.4 °C · T_b: 1,564 °C
Crystal: rhombohedral · Config: [Xe]4f¹⁴5d¹⁰6s²6p³ · Ox. states: -3, +3, +5

References

Wolfram Alpha, “Bismuth element.” wolframalpha.com.
MOFCOM Announcement No. 10 of 2025, “Export Control of Tungsten, Tellurium, Bismuth, Molybdenum and Indium Related Items,” effective 4 February 2025.
MOFCOM Announcements No. 70 and 72 of 2025 (suspension orders), 7–9 November 2025.
United States Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025: Bismuth, January 2025.