#70Yb
Ytterbium Price
Heavy Rare EarthSuspended
Used in fiber lasers, metallurgy, and atomic clocks.
- Main trade forms
- Oxide (Yb₂O₃)
- Available from
- CN
Last update: Apr 4, 2026
4 records
4 records
Retail Reference
$32/kg
Oxide 99.9% (3N) · 1 kg
Edgetech Industries · CN · Mar 15, 2026
Bulk Benchmark
n/a
No commodity benchmark available
Applications
| Application | Role | Significance |
|---|---|---|
| Yb-doped fibre lasers | Yb3+ dopant in silica fibre | Dominant industrial cutting/welding laser technology. Multi-kilowatt fibre lasers (IPG, Coherent) use Yb3+ as the gain medium |
| Atomic clocks | Yb optical lattice clocks | Among the most accurate timekeepers ever built; candidate for redefinition of the SI second |
| Solid-state lasers | Yb:YAG, Yb:KGW, Yb:CALGO crystals | Femtosecond ultrafast lasers for micromachining, eye surgery, scientific research |
| Stainless steel additive | Trace Yb addition to stainless steels | Grain refinement and improved mechanical properties (small-volume application) |
| Stress gauges | Yb metal pressure sensors | Yb’s electrical resistance changes monotonically with pressure to ~50 kbar |
Market & Supply
Global Yb2O3 production
~50 t/year (separated oxide)
China refined supply share
~99%
Co-produced with
Lu, Tm, Er (HREE concentrate)
Largest end-use
Fibre-laser dopant
Current export control
Suspended until Nov 2026 [3]
Oxide retail (1 kg)
$32 to $42/kg
Bulk metal (Alibaba, 1 kg)
~$185/kg
Snap-back risk
28 November 2026
Verified Offers
Ytterbium currently has the lowest separation cost among the heavy lanthanides, reflecting its relatively higher natural abundance and the lack of an active export-control regime. The auto-rendered table shows in-stock retail oxide and bulk metal listings.
| Purity | MOQ | Original | Source | Verification | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-04-04 | Metal | 99.9-99.99% | 1 kg | 1 kg | $185 | 185 USD/kg | marketplace listing | Changsha Xinkang (Alibaba) | CN | single source offer | 0.55 |
| 2026-03-15 | Oxide | 99.9% (3N) | 1 kg | 1 kg | $42 | 42 USD/kg | distributor offer | Stanford Advanced Materials | US | single source offer | 0.60 |
| 2026-03-15 | Oxide | 99.9% (3N) | 1 kg | 1 kg | $32 | 32 USD/kg | distributor offer | Edgetech Industries | CN | single source offer | 0.60 |
| 2026-03-15 | Oxide | 99.9% (3N) | 1 kg | 1 kg | $36 | 36 USD/kg | marketplace offer | ALB Materials | CN | single source offer | 0.60 |
4 records · click a column to sort
Important Notes
Snap-back risk on 28 November 2026
Ytterbium controls were imposed in October 2025 then suspended in November 2025 until 28 November 2026. If China does not renew the suspension, the licensing regime resumes automatically. Pricing currently does not reflect this latent risk.
Industrial fibre-laser dependency
Yb3+ is the gain medium for nearly all multi-kilowatt industrial fibre lasers used in metal cutting, welding, and additive manufacturing. There is no qualified substitute. Nd3+ fibre lasers exist but operate at lower power and efficiency. A snap-back would directly affect IPG, Coherent, nLight, and Trumpf supply chains.
Co-production with lutetium
Ytterbium is recovered alongside Lu and Tm in heavy rare earth separation. Yb supply tracks total HREE separation throughput, which is constrained by China’s six-year frozen mining quota of 19,150 t/year for heavy rare earths.
Physical Properties [1]
Z: 70 · Ar: 173.05 u · ρ: 6.90 g/cm3 · Tm: 824 °C · Tb: 1,196 °CCrystal: fcc · Config: [Xe]4f146s2 · Ox. states: +2, +3
References
- Wolfram Alpha, “Ytterbium element.” wolframalpha.com.
- MOFCOM Announcements No. 55, 56, 57, 58, 61, and 62 of 2025 (October 2025 escalation), effective 9 October 2025.
- MOFCOM Announcements No. 70 and No. 72 of 2025 (suspension orders), 7 to 9 November 2025; suspension runs to 28 November 2026.
Seen a sourced Ytterbium quote that is missing above?