Molybdenum market update on June 18, 2026
This week, the overall molybdenum market in China was in good condition. Against the background of generally high price-raising awareness among suppliers and increased downstream demand, the prices of mainstream products continued to rise, and spot orders increased. In terms of negative factors, first, as raw material prices fluctuated upward, the profit margins of downstream production enterprises were squeezed, and downstream purchasing willingness weakened accordingly; second, steel enterprises still had a relatively strong tendency to suppress their bids for ferromolybdenum, which to some extent would hinder the upward movement of molybdenum prices.
In terms of positive factors, first, influenced by factors such as frequent hot and rainy weather recently, relatively high energy prices, and declining mine grades, the production capacity of some molybdenum mining enterprises has been reduced, and the growth rate of spot supply in the market has been slow. In May this year, the domestic production of molybdenum concentrate and ferromolybdenum both showed a certain degree of decline month-on-month. Second, with the Dragon Boat Festival holiday approaching, downstream replenishment willingness has increased somewhat. Third, benefiting from the rapid development of emerging industries and continuous technological upgrading and iteration, industry players have relatively high expectations for the future market.
Recently, the biggest highlight of the "molybdenum replacing tungsten" technology, which has attracted great attention from industry players, is the use of molybdenum material to replace traditional tungsten material for making word lines. Word lines are horizontal control lines connecting the control gates of memory cells, mainly used to select and operate memory cells in specific rows.
According to statistics from CTIA GROUP, this week, the price of molybdenum concentrate increased by about 100 RMB/ton-degree, an increase of 1.97%; the price of ferromolybdenum increased by about 10,000 RMB/ton, an increase of 3.14%; the price of molybdenum oxide increased by about 100 RMB/ton-degree, an increase of 1.95%; the price of sodium molybdate increased by about 7,000 RMB/ton, an increase of 3.17%; the price of ammonium heptamolybdate increased by about 4,000 RMB/ton, an increase of 1.26%; and the price of molybdenum powder increased by about 4 RMB/kg, an increase of 0.67%.
News aspect: Data from the China Iron and Steel Association shows that in early June 2026, key statistical steel enterprises produced a total of 19.40 million tons of steel products, with an average daily output of 1.94 million tons, and the daily output decreased by 6.4% month-on-month. By region, the daily output of steel products in Northeast China decreased by 51,000 tons, that in East China decreased by 23,000 tons, that in Northwest China decreased by 10,000 tons, that in Southwest China decreased by 1,000 tons, that in Central South China decreased by 49,000 tons, and that in North China increased by 3,000 tons.
Price of molybdenum products on June 18, 2026
Image of molybdenum sheet
