# Gallium: Stocks

A thousand years in bauxite, but too little capacity

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/gallium/stocks/

What this tab covers How much is left and how much is held. For minerals and energy: reserves, current output, years of supply and recycling for the top five countries. For farm commodities: production, ending stocks and stocks-to-use for the top five producers (USDA, October 2026). It also covers inventories and stockpiles.

#### Top five countries: reserves, output and years of supply

| Country | Reserves not estimated (USGS publishes no gallium reserves) | Current output t Ga (primary low-purity, 2025e) | Years of supply | Recycling |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| **China** | – | 900 | – | n/a |
| **Russia** | – | 6 | – | n/a |
| **Japan** | – | 3 | – | n/a |

 USGS MCS 2026, Gallium (world low-purity production and capacity table). Years of supply = reserves ÷ current output; reserves grow as prices and technology change, so this is not a countdown.

#### Recycling

Only three countries produced primary gallium in 2025. USGS gives capacity instead of reserves: China 1,600 t, Japan 10 t, Russia 10 t, others (Germany, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Korea, Ukraine) 100 t, world 1,700 t. Gallium in world bauxite exceeds 1 million t. End-of-life recycling is about 0% (EU CRM 2023 EOL-RIR) and under 1% (BRGM 2016), but at least 40% of manufacturing scrap is recycled; the US reprocesses new GaAs scrap at one plant in New York, and Japan met 44% of its 2016 supply from recovered scrap (IBM 2018). No India or China rate was found.

Gallium has no reserve estimate, because it depends on alumina refining. USGS puts gallium contained in world bauxite resources at over 1 million t, more than a thousand years of current output. The binding limit is extraction capacity, about 1,700 t a year worldwide in 2025. End-of-life recycling is effectively zero: the EU rate is 0% and USGS reports no old-scrap recovery. New scrap from GaAs device making is reprocessed. US consumer stocks of about 3,400 kg at the end of 2025 covered roughly two months of reported use.

#### Recycling
 End-of-life recycling input rate in the EU: 0% of demand met from post-consumer scrap (EU CRM study 2023).

No old scrap is recycled; new scrap from GaAs device manufacture is reprocessed to high-purity gallium at one New York facility.

## Other sections

- [Summary](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/gallium/index.md)
- [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/gallium/overview/index.md)
- [Correlation](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/gallium/correlation/index.md)
- [Extraction](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/gallium/extraction/index.md)
- [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/gallium/production/index.md)
- [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/gallium/cycles/index.md)
- [Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/gallium/trading/index.md)
- [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/gallium/movement/index.md)
- [Criticality](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/gallium/criticality/index.md)
- [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/gallium/characteristics/index.md)
- [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/gallium/emissions/index.md)
- [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/gallium/links/index.md)