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#68Er

Erbium Price

Heavy Rare EarthSuspended

Used in fiber optic amplifiers and glass colorant.

Main trade forms
Oxide (Er₂O₃)
Available from
CN, AU
Last update: Apr 4, 2026
6 records

Retail Reference

$3,736/kg
Metal 99.95% · 9 g
Luciteria · US · Apr 4, 2026

Bulk Benchmark

n/a
No commodity benchmark available
SuspendedExport controls paused under November 2025 suspension orders.Regulatory Tracker →

Applications

ApplicationRoleSignificance
EDFA optical amplifiersEr3+ dopant in silica fibre, pumped at 980/1480 nmThe basis of every long-haul fibre-optic communications link, including subsea cables, terrestrial backbones, and data-centre interconnects. Operates in the 1550 nm telecom window. No substitute exists.
Erbium lasersEr:YAG (2940 nm), Er:glassDental and dermatological lasers; strongly absorbed by water for precise tissue ablation
Pink-tint glassEr2O3 in soda-lime glassDecorative glass colouring; absorbs in green/yellow
Nuclear control rodsEr2O3 burnable poison in reactor fuelUsed in CANDU and some PWR designs to manage reactivity
Up-conversion phosphorsEr/Yb co-doped fluorides and oxidesIR-to-visible up-conversion for displays, security marking, biomedical imaging

Market & Supply

Global Er2O3 production ~700 t/year (REO basis)
China refined supply share ~99%
Co-produced with Y, Yb, Tm, Lu, Ho (HREE concentrate)
Telecom share of demand ~40% (EDFA fibre)
Current export control Suspended until Nov 2026 [3]
Oxide retail (1 kg) $28 to $38/kg
Metal retail (gram-scale) $3,700 to $27,500/kg
Snap-back risk 28 November 2026

Verified Offers

Erbium oxide remains cheap (~$30/kg) but the gram-scale metal market is highly fragmented. The auto-rendered table shows quotations spanning an order of magnitude depending on purity, form factor, and seller.

PurityMOQOriginalSourceVerification
2026-04-04Metal99.9% (3N)0.001 kg0.001 kg$10,95010,950 USD/kgmarketplace listingsnaucke-elements (eBay)NLsingle source offer0.60
2026-04-04Metal99.95%0.0091 kg0.0091 kg$3,7363,736 USD/kgmarketplace listingLuciteriaUSsingle source offer0.55
2026-04-04Metal99.95%0.001 kg0.001 kg$27,53027,530 USD/kgmarketplace listingnovaelements (eBay)ITsingle source offer0.55
2026-03-15Oxide99.9% (3N)1 kg1 kg$3838 USD/kgdistributor offerStanford Advanced MaterialsUSsingle source offer0.60
2026-03-15Oxide99.9% (3N)1 kg1 kg$2828 USD/kgdistributor offerEdgetech IndustriesCNsingle source offer0.60
2026-03-15Oxide99.9% (3N)1 kg1 kg$3232 USD/kgmarketplace offerALB MaterialsCNsingle source offer0.60

6 records · click a column to sort

Important Notes

Snap-back risk on 28 November 2026 Erbium controls were imposed in October 2025 then suspended in November 2025. If the suspension is not renewed by 28 November 2026, MOFCOM licensing resumes. A renewed Er control would directly threaten EDFA fibre production and global telecom backbone capacity expansions.
Telecom infrastructure dependency Er3+-doped fibre amplifiers are the only commercially viable optical amplifier for the 1550 nm low-loss telecom window. Every transatlantic submarine cable, terrestrial backbone, and hyperscaler data-centre interconnect uses EDFAs. There is no engineering substitute.
Co-production with Yb and Tm Er is recovered alongside Yb, Tm, and Lu in the heavy rare earth separation cascade. Production cannot be scaled independently without disrupting the rest of the HREE basket.
Physical Properties [1]
Z: 68 · Ar: 167.26 u · ρ: 9.066 g/cm3 · Tm: 1,529 °C · Tb: 2,868 °C
Crystal: hcp · Config: [Xe]4f126s2 · Ox. states: +3

References

  1. Wolfram Alpha, “Erbium element.” wolframalpha.com.
  2. MOFCOM Announcements No. 55, 56, 57, 58, 61, and 62 of 2025 (October 2025 escalation), effective 9 October 2025.
  3. MOFCOM Announcements No. 70 and No. 72 of 2025 (suspension orders), 7 to 9 November 2025.

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