Cerium Price Today: Metal Benchmark & Market Outlook

Last updated: 3 September 2026 · Updated monthly · Source: Shanghai Metals Market (SMM)

The cerium price stands at $3,875.91 per tonne — equivalent to $3.88 per kilogram — for cerium metal on the Shanghai Metals Market (SMM) industrial benchmark as of 3 September 2026, down 5.86% from $4,117.29/tonne ($4.12/kg) at the August benchmark. The VAT-excluded, delivered-to-works China price ranged from $3,810.22 to $3,941.60 per tonne ($3.81–$3.94/kg) intraday on 3 September. Cerium is the most abundant of all the rare earth elements in the Earth’s crust and consistently one of the least expensive, with pricing shaped primarily by chronic structural oversupply from Chinese light rare earth operations rather than demand-side constraints.

Cerium is a light rare earth element and the second member of the lanthanide series after lanthanum. Like lanthanum, cerium is produced in substantial volumes as an unavoidable co-product of neodymium and praseodymium mining — the magnet rare earths that determine the economics of most rare earth operations globally. Finding sufficient end-use demand for cerium output is an ongoing commercial challenge for both Chinese and Western producers. For background on cerium’s properties and applications, see the cerium overview and the top cerium uses guide.

Current Cerium Price

The cerium price market distinguishes between the metal benchmark tracked by SMM and cerium oxide, which is the primary form traded for most industrial applications. Oxide prices vary further by delivery location — China domestic, FOB China, and CIF Western warehouse prices each carry different premiums reflecting export licensing, freight, and insurance costs. The SMM metal benchmark is the primary industrial reference for the metal form.

The FOB-to-CIF premium on cerium oxide — approximately $781/tonne between China port and Rotterdam warehouse — reflects freight, insurance, and the additional procurement complexity introduced by China’s export licensing regime. Western buyers pay this premium for material security; the alternative is navigating China’s licensing process directly, which adds lead time risk. The metal-to-oxide price gap reflects processing costs for metal reduction, which at cerium’s low price point represents a proportionally significant conversion premium.

Cerium Price History

Cerium’s price history mirrors lanthanum’s — a stable, low-price environment punctuated by the 2011 Chinese export quota crisis before returning to structurally depressed levels. Cerium was among the most severely affected elements during the 2011 spike in proportional terms, given its position as the most abundant light rare earth and therefore the element with the greatest volume of stranded supply once quotas were removed.

What Is Driving Cerium Prices

Cerium demand is distributed across several mature industrial end-uses. Automotive catalytic converters represent the largest volume application — cerium oxide’s oxygen storage capacity is a critical function in three-way catalysts that reduce vehicle exhaust emissions. Glass polishing compounds using cerium oxide are the second major application, consumed across optical glass, semiconductor wafer, and flat panel display manufacturing. Cerium is also used as an additive in aluminium and iron alloys, in UV-filtering glass, and as a co-catalyst in petroleum refining.

The auto catalyst application faces long-run structural pressure from EV adoption — battery electric vehicles do not require catalytic converters, and as BEV market share increases, the largest single demand stream for cerium contracts. This dynamic makes cerium’s medium-term demand outlook one of the more challenged in the rare earth elements complex, despite the element’s wide industrial use base.

Supply dynamics are unchanged from lanthanum’s structural position. Cerium constitutes approximately 38–42% of total rare earth oxide production by weight — making it the single most abundant rare earth in the production mix and the element with the most persistent oversupply challenge. USGS Rare Earths Statistics consistently identifies cerium as the highest-volume rare earth produced globally, with Chinese operations at Bayan Obo and southern ionic clay deposits generating cerium output that substantially exceeds identifiable end-use markets.

Western Cerium Supply Development

Western rare earth projects produce cerium as an unavoidable co-product of light rare earth processing. MP Materials at Mountain Pass, California, generates substantial cerium output from its bastnäsite processing circuit. Lynas Rare Earths’ Mount Weld operation in Western Australia similarly produces cerium alongside its target NdPr output. Both companies face the same commercial challenge: finding end-use markets for large volumes of a low-value element in regions without established cerium processing industries.

This is a structural feature of Western rare earth development rather than a project-specific problem. Any light rare earth operation that targets NdPr will produce cerium and lanthanum in fixed geological ratios regardless of market conditions for those elements. For the broader project pipeline, see the top rare earth producing countries and the China rare earth overview. The cerium oversupply challenge and the lanthanum oversupply challenge are structurally identical — for comparison see the lanthanum price page.

Cerium Price Outlook

The near-term cerium price outlook remains soft, with the metal benchmark down for a second consecutive month — 13.8% in August and a further 5.86% in September — after July’s 9.4% gain proved short-lived. No demand catalyst is visible at near-term timescales that would absorb the structural surplus from Chinese and expanding Western light rare earth production. Chinese export licensing controls add a procurement cost for Western buyers — reflected in the CIF Rotterdam premium over FOB China — but do not meaningfully tighten supply given the volume of cerium available within China for domestic processing.

The medium-term outlook is challenged. Auto catalyst demand — cerium’s largest end-use — faces secular decline as battery electric vehicles displace internal combustion engines in major markets. The pace of that displacement will determine whether cerium prices remain range-bound or drift lower from current levels. Offsetting factors include growing glass polishing demand from semiconductor and display manufacturing, and potential new applications in solid oxide fuel cells and rare earth permanent magnet grain boundary engineering where cerium additions are under active research.

Cerium vs Lanthanum — Light REE Price Comparison

Cerium and lanthanum are the two cheapest commercially traded rare earths and share identical supply dynamics — both are co-produced in fixed ratios with magnet rare earths and cannot be withheld from the market without curtailing more valuable NdPr output. Cerium currently trades at a premium to lanthanum’s $3.19/kg SMM benchmark, reflecting cerium’s slightly stronger demand base from auto catalysts and polishing compounds versus lanthanum’s primary FCC catalyst application.

Both elements face structurally similar medium-term demand challenges from technology substitution, and both share a potential upside scenario tied to clean energy — cerium in solid oxide fuel cells and lanthanum in hydrogen storage alloys. Neither scenario has yet translated into commercial-scale demand at prices sufficient to materially lift the current price floor.

Cerium Price Per Gram, Ounce and Pound

The conversion table below is calculated from the SMM cerium metal industrial benchmark and updated monthly. The SMM benchmark is quoted per tonne; per-kilogram and smaller unit conversions are shown for reference.

Cerium Price in GBP, EUR and Other Currencies

Currency conversions from the SMM USD benchmark into GBP, EUR, AUD, JPY, and CAD are shown below. Figures are calculated using approximate exchange rates at the time of the most recent update and are for reference only.

Prices are calculated from the SMM industrial benchmark and updated monthly. For cerium oxide prices including CIF Rotterdam, see the Current Cerium Price table above.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Prices are subject to change without notice.