Rhenium: Trading

A few roasters, a few buyers, all bilateral deals

What this tab covers How and where it is bought and sold: who buys and sells, exchanges and benchmarks, contract types, the big trading houses and how prices are discovered.

Rhenium has no futures market. It trades through bilateral contracts between a few molybdenum roasters and refiners, such as Chile's Molymet, and superalloy makers. Agencies such as Argus and Fastmarkets assess prices for metal pellets and catalytic-grade APR. Engine makers secure supply through long-term contracts and recycling deals for their own scrap. Tilton and Guzmán put world rhenium sales at about $146 million in 2014, against $7,155 million for molybdenum (pdf p. 23). A market this small can move sharply on one large order.

Where it is bought (buyers)

Superalloy and jet-engine makers, mainly in the US and Europe (Pratt & Whitney signed the largest known contract, with Molymet, in 2014)
Catalyst makers for oil refineries worldwide
US imports in 2021-24 came from Chile (31%), Canada (27%), Germany (16%) and Poland (14%) (USGS)

Where it is sold (sellers)

Molymet and Codelco's Molyb in Chile
KGHM in Poland; producers in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan
US roasters treating Arizona and Montana concentrate
Recyclers in the US and Germany, plus Canada, Estonia, France, Japan, Poland and Russia

Exchanges and benchmarks

Venue	Contract	Notes
None	No exchange contract	Small bilateral market; Tilton and Guzman put 2014 world sales at $146 million

Contract types

Multi-year supply contracts between producers and engine makers (P&W-Molymet, 2014)
Closed-loop catalyst recycling contracts with refiners
Toll recycling of turbine scrap and revert
Spot sales of pellets and APR priced off PRA quotes

Top trading houses

Specialist merchants such as Lipmann Walton & Co (UK) and other MMTA members

How prices are discovered

Argus: rhenium metal pellets and catalytic-grade APR (used by USGS)
Fastmarkets: rhenium and APR assessments
Long-term contract prices are private