Tantalum: Trading
From artisanal pits to four processing countries, no exchange
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.Tantalum is not traded on an exchange. Ore moves from artisanal sites through local traders and exporters to a few processors in China, Germany, Kazakhstan and Thailand. Prices are bilateral, informed by price-reporting agencies; USGS used CRU, then the Institute for Rare Earths and Metals and Asian Metal. Buyers increasingly require traceability and audit of smelters. The EU Conflict Minerals Regulation of 2017 imposes due diligence on tantalum supply chains (Pitron, pdf p. 181).
Where it is bought (buyers)
- Processors in China, the US, Germany, Japan, Kazakhstan and Thailand buy concentrates and scrap; Chinese refineries bought spot lots at $63/lb in March 2020 (Argus)
- Capacitor and target makers in the US, Japan, Korea and Taiwan buy powder and metal (Korea 15.2% and Taiwan 12.0% of HS 8103 imports by value in 2024, Comtrade)
- Superalloy makers and the US National Defense Stockpile buy ingot
Where it is sold (sellers)
- Artisanal exporters in the DRC and Rwanda, and mines in Brazil, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Australia and China
- Processors sell powder and metal: China 30.4%, the US 29.2% and Japan 10.9% of HS 8103 exports by value in 2024 (Comtrade)
Exchanges and benchmarks
| Venue | Contract | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| None | No exchange contract | Bilateral trade priced off agency assessments; China's Fanya exchange, which listed minor metals, collapsed in 2015 |
Contract types
- Long-term contracts between processors and mines, often with floor or reference prices
- Spot concentrate lots into China
- Due-diligence and traceability conditions under EU Regulation 2017/821 and US rules
Top trading houses
- Specialist minor-metal traders; names and volumes are not published in the sources used
How prices are discovered
- Argus tantalite 25% Ta2O5 CIF main port and 99.5% tantalum pentoxide ex-works China
- Asian Metal (used by USGS for 2025)
- Fastmarkets minor-metal assessments