Gallium Price Chart: Historical Data 2016-2026 with Event Annotations

Gallium Price Chart: 2016-2026

Note: Pre-2020 China prices are USGS-reported primary low-purity (~3N) grade. Rotterdam prices are 4N (99.99%) in-warehouse. The pre-2023 spread of $20-50/kg reflects logistics cost only; the post-August-2023 spread reflects the export control premium in addition to logistics. Hover over the chart for data point details.

How Do You Read a Gallium Price Chart?

A gallium price chart plots USD/kg on the vertical axis against time on the horizontal axis, with separate lines for the China domestic price (ex-works, primary grade, often reported in CNY and converted) and the Western import price (CIF Rotterdam or in-warehouse Rotterdam, 4N purity). Before August 2023, both lines moved together. After August 2023, the Western line detached sharply upward as export controls restricted supply. The spread between the two lines represents the export control premium.

Reading gallium price charts requires knowing four variables for any data point: the date, the price in USD/kg, the geographic basis (China ex-works, FOB China, or CIF/in-whs Rotterdam), and the purity grade (primary low-purity 3N, standard 4N, or semiconductor 6N). The same kilogram of gallium carries different prices at each stage of the supply chain. The USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries report China ex-works primary low-purity prices (roughly 3N grade) - the lowest basis. Fastmarkets and Argus assess 4N gallium at Rotterdam - the highest published basis. Failing to note which basis is quoted is the single most common source of confusion when comparing gallium price data between sources.

The chart also requires event annotations to be interpretable. Gallium price moves are not driven by continuous supply-demand equilibration. They are driven by discrete policy events: China export control announcements, implementation dates, quota adjustments, and trade agreement changes. Five annotation markers - July 3, 2023 (licensing announced), August 1, 2023 (licensing effective), December 3, 2024 (US ban imposed), November 9, 2025 (ban suspended), and the pre-event baseline of June 2023 - explain roughly 80% of the price action from 2023 to 2026.

What Does the Gallium Price Chart Show From 2016 to 2022?

From 2016 to mid-2023, the China ex-works price for primary gallium ranged from $124/kg (2018 low) to $510/kg (June 2022 peak). The 2017 spike to $690/kg for refined gallium reflected a brief tightening in refining capacity; primary low-purity held near $125-145/kg through 2018-2019. COVID-era demand recovery drove the 2020-2022 cycle: prices rose from $140/kg in January 2020 to $275/kg by December 2020 (96% within one year), then continued to $345/kg by October 2021 and $510/kg by June 2022.

The 2017 split between primary (3N, $125/kg) and refined (4N+, $690/kg) illustrates a recurring feature of gallium price charts: primary low-purity and high-purity refined gallium can diverge sharply during periods of refining capacity constraints. The June 2022 peak reflected post-COVID semiconductor demand, tight alumina refinery production through COVID disruptions, and a surge in GaN demand from the beginning of 5G infrastructure deployment. By June 2023, the price had declined to $240/kg - the pre-export-control baseline against which all subsequent moves are measured.

What Happened to Gallium Prices When China Announced Export Controls in July 2023?

On July 3, 2023, China announced export licensing requirements for gallium and germanium, effective August 1, 2023. The China ex-works price spiked from ~$240/kg to ~$326/kg within one week - a 36% move in seven days. By October 2023, the price reached $375/kg, up 56% from the June 2023 low. Monthly Chinese gallium exports collapsed from 6,876 kg in July 2023 to approximately 227 kg by October 2023, a 97% reduction in three months.

The divergence between China ex-works and Rotterdam prices that began in August 2023 is visible as a forking on the chart. Before August 2023, the two lines tracked within $50-100/kg of each other. After August 2023, the Rotterdam line climbed steadily while the China ex-works line fluctuated in the $310-380/kg range. By July 2024, the Rotterdam in-warehouse price was $500-600/kg against a China ex-works of approximately $340-380/kg - a spread of roughly $160-220/kg.

The Western price increase reflected physical inventory depletion. Semiconductor manufacturers and traders who had stockpiled gallium before August 2023 began drawing down those inventories. Each successive order placed to refill Western warehouse stocks required an export license, which China granted slowly and selectively. See gallium price history for the full monthly data series and US critical minerals policy for the policy context.

What Did the December 2024 US Export Ban Do to Gallium Prices?

On December 3, 2024, China announced an outright ban on gallium exports to the US - escalating from a licensing requirement to a blanket prohibition in response to US semiconductor export controls. The Rotterdam in-warehouse price, which had been tracking $470-550/kg in November 2024, reached $595/kg within days and continued climbing. By January 2025, Fastmarkets assessed Rotterdam 4N gallium at $1,450-1,500/kg - a level that had not been reached before in the post-2016 data set. The China domestic price at the same date was approximately $243-248/kg (1,780-1,820 CNY/kg).

The January 2025 Rotterdam assessment of $1,450-1,500/kg represented a 6x multiple of the concurrent China domestic price - a spread that had no precedent in pre-2023 gallium price history. The spread reflects three compounding factors: the export control premium (cost of obtaining a license, uncertainty of supply, and risk premium for Western buyers); the refining premium (China domestic primary grade is 3N; Rotterdam stock is 4N, requiring additional refining steps); and physical scarcity in Western warehouses as pre-ban inventory was consumed without replacement.

The November 9, 2025 ban suspension brought some normalization but did not close the spread. Export licenses remained required; the dual-use control list stayed intact; and Western buyers still faced logistical and regulatory friction that Chinese domestic buyers did not. As of early 2026, the Rotterdam price remained approximately 7-8x the China domestic equivalent.

What Is Gallium's All-Time High Price and When Did It Occur?

Western market 4N gallium reached approximately $2,101/kg in early 2026 (Rotterdam basis, Strategic Metals Invest), representing the highest price recorded in publicly available data for standard 4N purity gallium. Prior to the export control era, the highest recorded gallium price was approximately $690/kg for refined gallium in 2017 (USGS, China ex-works basis). The 2026 Western market price is roughly 3x the previous high, driven by the compounding effect of export licensing (2023), the US export ban (Dec 2024), and sustained semiconductor demand growth.

The 2026 Western price high is not a uniform market phenomenon. The China domestic gallium price in the same period is approximately $247-260/kg - less than 15% of the Rotterdam quote. The "all-time high" characterization applies specifically to the Western import market and reflects supply-chain fracture rather than global demand-driven appreciation. For Chinese domestic buyers, gallium in early 2026 was trading near mid-cycle prices, not at historical extremes.

Gallium's 2020-2026 price trajectory - from $140/kg in January 2020 to ~$2,100/kg at the Western market peak, a 15-fold increase - is comparable in magnitude to the 2009-2011 rare earth element price spike (dysprosium rose 26-fold from 2009 to 2011 peak). The key difference is duration: the REE bubble collapsed within 12 months. Gallium's Western market premium has persisted for over 30 months from the August 2023 export control implementation and shows no structural resolution - the China production concentration that created the vulnerability remains unchanged.

How Does the Gallium Price Chart Compare to Germanium?

Gallium and germanium charts show near-identical shape from July 2023 onward because China's export controls applied to both metals on the same date (July 3, 2023) and the December 2024 US ban covered both simultaneously. Germanium reached $2,839/kg by December 2024 (+150% from January 2023 baseline of ~$1,150/kg), while gallium's Rotterdam price reached $1,450-1,500/kg in January 2025 from a June 2023 baseline of $240-265/kg (+460%).

Germanium's lower percentage gain from its pre-controls price partly reflects its higher starting point and its more diversified global supply (Canada, Russia, and Belgium produce meaningful quantities), which provides a partial offset to Chinese supply restrictions. Gallium at 99% Chinese production concentration has no such offset - when China restricts exports, Western buyers have no alternative primary supply. The IEA's 2025 Global Critical Minerals Outlook identifies both gallium and germanium in the highest volatility tier among 20 tracked strategic minerals - greater price volatility than cobalt, lithium, or nickel over the same 2020-2025 window.

Gallium Price Data Table: Key Data Points 2016-2026

All China ex-works prices are in USD/kg converted from CNY at prevailing rates; source is USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries unless noted. Rotterdam in-warehouse prices are Fastmarkets assessments (4N, $/kg) where available.

Key Chart Annotation Events