Indium Prices Surge to Decade High Amid Chinese Market Speculation

Factors Driving Indium Price Increases

By Anmol Choubey and Ashitha Shivaprasad

Chinese Market Speculation

Feb 9 (Reuters) - Indium, used in touch screens, advanced semiconductors and new solar technologies, has hit its highest prices in over a decade in Western markets, driven by speculative activity on a Chinese exchange and tightening supply, market sources say.

Supply Constraints

The jump is drawing fresh attention to a niche but strategically important market dominated by Asian producers.

Demand from Clean Energy Technologies

Traders and market experts say indium is trading in Rotterdam around $500-$600 per kg, the highest level since early 2015. Since September, prices are up more than 55%.

Huge speculation from Chinese investors on expectations of tighter supply and stronger demand has driven the interest in indium futures on the Zhonglianjin exchange, three market sources said.

Supplies from key producers China and South Korea have been falling.

In China, which accounted for about 70% of global refined indium production in 2024, according to the United States Geological Survey, customs data show unwrought indium exports down more than 23% in a month in December to 22.72 metric tons.

South Korea made up roughly 17% of last year's global output of 1,080 tons.

CHINA CONTROLS MOST INDIUM OUTPUT

"The tight supply of crude indium is a long-standing structural issue, exacerbated by China's increasingly stringent environmental protection policies," said Cristina Belda, senior analyst at Argus.

Indium is recovered mainly as a byproduct of zinc processing, and extracted from smelter residues rather than primary mining.

"Considering the extraction of zinc, China controls most of its processing. In the coming years, a steady increase in (indium) prices is expected, because supply is inelastic," said Julia Khandoshko, CEO at the European broker Mind Money.

"It is a critical raw material whose consumption is only increasing and supply is not keeping pace."

South Korea has also been unable to provide material on the spot market recently, two market sources said.

Korea Zinc, one of the world's largest indium producers, said in an email that it sells 90–100 metric tons of indium a year.

It said exports had not been affected by any specific or unusual factors, and that 2026 volumes were likely to remain broadly in line with historical levels.

Indium demand is being supported by emerging clean-energy technologies, notably for use in indium tin oxide-based high-efficiency solar cells and advanced chips, market sources said.

Argus's Belda noted that prices remained below their 2010 peaks, which had prompted intensive research into alternatives, and said prices would have to remain high for some time for substitution to emerge. LSEG data put those peaks at $750-$800.

The U.S. Defense Logistics Agency published a solicitation on January 15 seeking up to $125 million worth of high-purity indium ingots for defence needs.

(Reporting by Anmol Choubey and Ashitha Shivaprasad in Bengaluru; Editing by Kevin Liffey)