Small Metals, Enormous Leverage
Gallium, indium, neodymium and tellurium are "minor metals" — produced in relatively tiny tonnages compared with copper or aluminium, but critical to electronics, EV magnets and solar cells. Thin trading volume, outsized industrial and geopolitical importance.
Why China, Specifically
China dominates refining and production of most of these metals, from rare-earth processing to gallium and indium recovered as byproducts of zinc smelting. A China-based reporter sourcing quotes directly from domestic smelters and traders naturally became the most-watched reference for exactly these metals.
A Live Case Study in Resource Leverage
China's 2023 export licensing controls on gallium and germanium were a real, recent reminder that a "minor" metal most people have never heard of can suddenly become front-page geopolitical news — and Asian Metal's assessments are exactly where that story first shows up as a number.
Built From Relationships, Not a Screen
The methodology here is more manual than a modern futures exchange — analysts calling and surveying producers and traders directly for actual deal prices, rather than an anonymous electronic order book. For metals traded this thinly, that's often the only way to get a usable price at all.
Neodymium — the "Nd" in NdFeB magnets — is what makes both wind turbines and electric motors possible at their current size and efficiency, and almost none of it is exchange-traded anywhere in the world.
