Vanadium: Trading
No futures, just contracts and agency prices
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.Vanadium has no liquid futures market. Producers and consumers negotiate contracts referenced to prices assessed by agencies such as Argus and Fastmarkets. The main assessments cover vanadium pentoxide flake in China and ferrovanadium in Europe and the US. Trade is in intermediate forms: V2O5, ferrovanadium, and vanadium-aluminium master alloy for aerospace. Sales are thin, so a few large buyers or Chinese policy shifts can move prices sharply. For high-purity grades, buyers qualify specific producers, which makes switching suppliers slow.
Where it is bought (buyers)
- Steel mills in China, Europe, the US, Japan and India buy ferrovanadium and nitrided vanadium
- Aerospace master-alloy makers buy high-purity V2O5
- Flow-battery electrolyte makers in China buy V2O5
Where it is sold (sellers)
- China (Pangang, HBIS) and Russia (EVRAZ) sell co-product V2O5 and FeV
- South Africa exported 24.3% of world ferrovanadium in 2023; Brazil (Largo) sells high-purity V2O5
- Converters in Korea, Canada, the Netherlands and Czechia export FeV (UN Comtrade 2023)
Exchanges and benchmarks
| Venue | Contract | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| No exchange-traded futures | V2O5 and ferrovanadium trade bilaterally | Prices come from price reporting agencies and Chinese steel mill tenders |
Contract types
- Monthly or quarterly FeV contracts priced on Fastmarkets or Argus averages
- Chinese steel mill tenders for FeV and vanadium-nitrogen alloy
- Offtakes for high-purity V2O5 with aerospace and battery customers
Top trading houses
- Glencore (markets Rhovan output)
- Producer sales arms of Largo and Pangang
How prices are discovered
- Argus Chinese V2O5 98% (used by USGS)
- Fastmarkets European V2O5 and FeV assessments
- US ferrovanadium price (USGS)