Gallium Price Today: 4N and 6N Spot Price Reference - March 2026

What is the current gallium price?

Gallium 4N (99.99% purity) in-warehouse Rotterdam is assessed at approximately $2,101.60/kg as of March 3, 2026, the highest recorded price for standard purity gallium in Western markets. China ex-works 4N gallium trades at approximately 1,805 CNY/kg (~$247/kg at current exchange rates). The spread between the two markets - approximately $1,855/kg - reflects the export license premium, refining premium, and Western warehouse scarcity created by China's December 2024 US export ban and the ongoing licensing regime.

What do gallium prices look like across grades and geographies today?

The gallium market in March 2026 operates on four distinct price points by geography and two standard purity grades (4N and 6N) assessed in public markets. The China ex-works price represents the production cost floor; each subsequent geographic basis adds logistics, refining cost, and export control premium. The 6N grade commands a published premium above 4N but the precise spread is negotiated in contracts; Argus Media is the only PRA publishing a 6N assessment.

The Europe CIF main airport basis ($1,300-1,450/kg) is lower than the Rotterdam in-warehouse price because it represents gallium arriving at a European airport on a cost-insurance-freight basis, before warehousing and handling costs. The Rotterdam in-warehouse price represents material that has already cleared customs, paid warehousing, and is available for immediate physical collection - a premium over CIF reflecting availability and immediacy.

How has the gallium price moved in the past 90 days?

From December 2025 through March 2026, the Rotterdam 4N gallium price has risen approximately 22% year-to-date, continuing the post-December-2024-ban appreciation trend through the November 2025 ban suspension. The suspension (announced November 9, 2025, effective through November 27, 2026) initially triggered a roughly 15% price decline on Shanghai Metals Exchange futures. That decline proved short-lived - the licensing framework remained in place, Chinese export approvals continued to be slow and selective, and Rotterdam inventory continued to deplete without replenishment at the pace needed to close the supply gap.

Buyer sentiment as of Q1 2026 is cautious but supportive. Western buyers are covering near-term needs rather than building strategic inventories - the $2,101/kg price makes carrying 6-12 months of stock extremely expensive in working capital terms. Spot transactions are limited; most volume moves through existing long-term contracts at index-linked pricing. Buyers not covered by contracts are paying spot premiums of 30-50% above the assessed index.

The China domestic price has been stable in the 1,700-1,900 CNY/kg range since November 2025, reflecting domestic supply-demand balance unaffected by the export control dynamics that drive Western prices.

What is driving the current gallium price level?

The current $2,101/kg Rotterdam price has four compounding causes: China's export licensing requirement (in force since August 2023), the December 2024 US export ban (technically suspended but operationally still restrictive under licensing), depletion of Western warehouse inventory that was built before export controls took effect, and the absence of Western primary gallium production at any meaningful scale. Any one of these factors alone would push prices above pre-2023 levels ($240-300/kg). All four operating simultaneously explain the 8x premium over China domestic.

What are comparable critical mineral prices today?

Germanium, the mineral most closely tied to gallium in supply chain and policy terms, is assessed at $8,597.50/kg as of late February 2026 - a 47.88% YTD increase and a 108.64% gain over the past 12 months. Both gallium and germanium were subject to China's simultaneous July 2023 export licensing and December 2024 US export ban. Indium, which faces no Chinese export controls as of March 2026, has risen only 6.72% YTD and 19.19% over 12 months - illustrating that export controls, not general critical mineral demand, explain the extreme moves in gallium and germanium.

Cobalt at $56.29/kg provides a reference point for a critical mineral not subject to Chinese export restrictions: price appreciation is driven by demand fundamentals alone, not supply policy, and shows the difference between the two dynamics.

What recent supply developments affect the current gallium price?

Three supply-side developments announced in Q1 2026 are material to the price outlook: the ERG-Mitsubishi Kazakhstan supply agreement (first non-Chinese primary production scheduled for Q3 2026), the US DoE TRACE-Ga initiative ($6M for domestic US gallium recovery), and the DoD ATALCO equity commitment ($150M, targeting 50 mt/year). None of these changes the supply picture before mid-2026 at the earliest, which is why prices remain at all-time highs despite their announcement.

The key supply implication: meaningful non-Chinese gallium supply enters Western markets in Q3 2026 (Kazakhstan, 15 mt) and in 2027+ (ATALCO, Rio Tinto). Until then - throughout the remainder of 2026 - Western gallium supply remains almost entirely dependent on Chinese export licenses, which constrains the downside from current prices. See gallium price forecast for the full 2025-2030 supply pipeline analysis.

How is the gallium price today assessed and published?

The $2,101.60/kg Rotterdam figure cited on this page is from Strategic Metals Invest as of March 3, 2026. The authoritative benchmark for contract pricing is Argus Media, which publishes twice-weekly assessments for 4N and 6N gallium on China ex-works (CNY), FOB China (USD), and Rotterdam in-warehouse (USD) bases. Fastmarkets publishes weekly. Asian Metal and Shanghai Metals Market publish daily China domestic prices.

No gallium price is a transaction-based settlement. All published gallium prices are assessed prices - a named price reporting agency's independent judgment of where the market cleared, based on bids, offers, and transaction reports from market participants. The gallium spot market is too thin (estimated less than 5% of total volume in spot transactions) for transaction-based price discovery. This means that in periods of limited trading activity - as in the current environment, where most volume is under long-term contracts - the assessed price reflects directional market intelligence more than observed transactions.