#42 Mo

Molybdenum Price

Strategic Metal Export Licence

Key alloying element in high-strength steels and superalloys.

Main trade forms: Oxide (MoO₃)
Available from: CN, US, CL, PE

Last update: 2026-03-15
4 records

Retail Reference

$55/kg

Powder 99.9% (3N) · 1 kg

Edgetech Industries · CN · 2026-03-15

Bulk Benchmark

No commodity benchmark available

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

Molybdenum was added to China’s export-control list under MOFCOM/GAC Announcement No. 10/2025 (effective 4 February 2025), alongside W, Te, Bi, and In [2]. The control covers Mo metal, ferromolybdenum, MoO₃, ammonium molybdate, and a range of compounds.

Unlike the heavy rare earths, the Mo licensing regime has so far operated without significant disruption to ferromolybdenum spot trade, since China is a large producer but not the dominant share — Chile, Peru and the United States together produce more than half of global Mo as a copper by-product.

Applications

Application	Role	Significance
HSLA & stainless steel	Mo alloying for strength, hardenability, corrosion resistance	~80% of Mo demand. Critical for pipeline steels (X70/X80), pressure vessels, 316L stainless
Superalloys	Mo in Ni- and Co-based superalloys (Hastelloy, Inconel)	Jet-engine combustion sections, gas turbines, chemical reactors
Catalysts	Co–Mo and Ni–Mo hydrodesulfurisation catalysts	Refinery sulfur removal from petroleum fuels — mandated by global ULSD/IMO 2020 standards
Mo metal & wire	Mo electrodes, sputtering targets, furnace heating elements	Glass-melting electrodes, semiconductor metallisation, vacuum furnace components
Lubricants	MoS₂ solid lubricant additive	High-pressure lubricant for gears, bearings, fasteners

Market & Supply

Global mine production ~250,000 t Mo/year [4]

China share ~40%

Other top producers Chile, Peru, USA, Mexico

Co-product source ~60% as Cu by-product

Export control MOFCOM No. 10/2025 [2]

Mo oxide benchmark $18–$24/lb (Platts)

Ferromolybdenum (FOB) $45–$55/kg Mo

Mo metal retail $60–$300/kg

Verified Offers

Molybdenum trades on a thick global market with Platts MoO₃ as the headline benchmark. Retail metal listings are gram- to kilogram-scale rod, plate, and powder. The auto-rendered table shows tracked listings.

Date	Form	Purity	USD/kg	Seller	Country
2026-03-15	Powder	99.9% (3N)	$68	Stanford Advanced Materials	US
2026-03-15	Powder	99.9% (3N)	$55	Edgetech Industries	CN
2026-03-15	Powder	99.9% (3N)	$60	ALB Materials	CN
2026-03-15	Powder	99.9% (3N)	$82	American Elements	US

Important Notes

Licence regime active MOFCOM No. 10/2025 [2] requires Chinese export licences for Mo metal, ferromolybdenum, MoO₃ and ammonium molybdate. Compliance load is now permanent for Chinese exporters.

Diversified supply offsets control risk Unlike W or REE where China holds 80–99% of refined supply, Mo is broadly distributed. Codelco (Chile), Freeport-McMoRan (Cerro Verde, Morenci), and Southern Copper produce large volumes as porphyry-Cu by-product. Western steel mills can substitute supply more readily than for tungsten.

Refinery catalyst demand Hydrodesulfurisation catalyst (Co–Mo, Ni–Mo) demand is structurally linked to global crude throughput and tightening sulfur specs. Low-sulfur shipping fuel mandates (IMO 2020) added durable Mo catalyst demand on top of existing road-fuel needs.

Physical Properties [1]

Z: 42 · A_r: 95.95 u · ρ: 10.28 g/cm³ · T_m: 2,623 °C · T_b: 4,639 °C
Crystal: bcc · Config: [Kr]4d⁵5s¹ · Ox. states: -2 to +6

References

Wolfram Alpha, “Molybdenum 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: Molybdenum, January 2025.