Thorium: Trading
Small, sporadic lots under nuclear controls
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.There is no exchange or price reporting for thorium. Compounds move in small, sporadic lots between a few licensed processors and users, under nuclear and radiation controls. Prices are visible only as customs unit values. The real commercial decisions happen upstream, in the rare-earth and mineral-sands business, where thorium is a cost to manage rather than a product to sell.
Where it is bought (buyers)
- Licensed industrial users (welding electrodes, lamps, ceramics, optics) buy small lots of oxide and nitrate
- Research institutes and fuel developers buy nuclear-grade thoria
- China buys monazite (for rare earths) from Nigeria, Madagascar, Thailand and Indonesia (USGS)
Where it is sold (sellers)
- France and India supplied 51% and 47% of US thorium compound imports in 2021-24 (USGS)
- Monazite is sold by mineral-sand producers in Africa and Southeast Asia to China
- In India, IREL controls monazite under the Department of Atomic Energy
Exchanges and benchmarks
| Venue | Contract | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| None | No exchange contract | Thorium has no exchange or price assessment; trade is licensed under nuclear and radiation rules, and no Indian venue lists it |
Contract types
- Government-to-government and licensed bilateral transfers
- Small catalogue lots of compounds
- Monazite cargoes priced for rare-earth content
Top trading houses
- None; trade is restricted to licensed producers, processors and research bodies
How prices are discovered
- US Census import and export unit values (USGS)
- Monazite prices set by rare-earth content, not thorium