Neodymium Price Today: NdPr Spot & Industrial Benchmark

Last updated: 3 September 2026 · Updated monthly · Sources: Shanghai Metals Market (SMM); USGS Mineral Resources Program

• The neodymium price stands at $141.79/kg for domestic metal, down 2.54% month-on-month.
• The NdPr alloy price — the primary magnet feedstock — fell to $131.02/kg, down 1.98%.
• Praseodymium moved in step, down 2.37% to $150.69/kg, confirming this is a whole-complex pullback rather than a neodymium-specific move.
• This is the first monthly decline across the NdPr complex since May, following four consecutive months of gains through June, July, and August.
• China’s mid-year mining quota guidance and EV/wind demand trends remain the dominant near-term catalysts.

The neodymium price as of 3 September 2026 stands at $141.79/kg for neodymium metal on the SMM domestic China benchmark, down 2.54% from $145.48/kg at the August benchmark. The NdPr alloy price — the blended praseodymium-neodymium feedstock that is the primary input for the NdFeB permanent magnets powering electric vehicle motors and wind turbines — stands at $131.02/kg, down 1.98% from $133.67/kg at the August benchmark. This is the first pullback across the complex since May, following August’s near-flat plateau after July’s sharp rebound. This page tracks both benchmarks alongside FOB China export pricing and explains clearly why industrial and retail neodymium prices can diverge by a factor of several multiples.

Current Neodymium Price

Industrial Market (Chinese Benchmark — SMM)

SMM is the primary benchmark for industrial neodymium price transactions. Domestic China prices are assessed daily, VAT excluded. FOB China prices reflect export-grade material at Chinese port and were assessed 2 September 2026, moving down alongside the domestic benchmark rather than lagging it this cycle.

Industrial vs Retail Neodymium Price

SMM prices track bulk metal transacted between Chinese producers, processors, and large manufacturers in multi-tonne lots. Retail prices for physical neodymium metal reflect small-lot premiums, storage costs, dealer margins, and an illiquidity premium on a niche asset. Buyers comparing these figures should treat them as parallel markets rather than the same commodity at different stages of a supply chain.

Neodymium Price History

Annual figures are approximate midpoint estimates. Precise monthly SMM series require a subscription. Historical figures are directional indicators sourced from USGS Rare Earths Statistics and industry consensus.

What Is Driving the Neodymium Price

Global EV sales are forecast at 22.9 million units in 2026, representing approximately 28% year-on-year growth. Each NdFeB-motor EV requires roughly 1–2 kg of NdPr equivalent in its traction motor. At that consumption intensity, the EV sector alone adds thousands of tonnes of annual NdPr demand. The January-to-March 2026 neodymium price surge — from approximately $58/kg to $117/kg, a gain of over 100% — tracked directly with stronger-than-expected Q4 2025 and January 2026 EV registration data from China and Europe. The softening through May and June reflected inventory normalisation rather than a change in underlying demand, and the market reversed sharply in the four weeks to 1 July 2026 before stalling in August and now easing in September.

China accounts for approximately 85% of global neodymium mine production and roughly 90% of global NdFeB magnet manufacturing. The SMM domestic China benchmark functions as the global neodymium price reference because the overwhelming majority of physical supply originates there. China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) sets annual rare earth mining and smelting quotas; quota tightening — or the market’s anticipation of it — is a consistent upward neodymium price catalyst. Any signal of quota reductions, export licensing changes, or environmental enforcement actions on Chinese smelters tends to drive immediate spot price reactions.

The neodymium price is inseparable from NdFeB magnet demand because the magnet sector absorbs approximately 90% of NdPr supply. NdFeB magnets are specified in EV traction motors, direct-drive wind turbine generators, robotics actuators, and hard disk drives. New offshore wind installations require approximately 600 kg of NdPr per MW of generation capacity in direct-drive configurations. Grain Boundary Diffusion (GBD) technology has reduced the dysprosium and terbium content needed per magnet, but GBD does not reduce NdPr content, and in some configurations increases it by making NdFeB more cost-competitive against alternative magnet technologies.

The NdPr market is expected to remain in supply deficit for the second consecutive year in 2026. Demand growth driven by EVs and wind is outpacing both Chinese quota expansions and the ramp-up of Western production capacity. Consecutive deficit years tighten inventory buffers, reduce buyer negotiating power, and shift pricing momentum to producers — a dynamic reflected in the steep Q1 2026 neodymium price trajectory, the July rebound, and now September’s pullback as the market digests that move.

Western Neodymium Supply Development

MP Materials (NYSE: MP) operates the Mountain Pass mine in California’s Mojave Desert — the only rare earth mining and processing operation of scale in the United States. The company produces predominantly light rare earths including NdPr and has been building downstream separation and magnet manufacturing capacity in Fort Worth, Texas, partly under a US Department of Defense supply agreement. As a publicly listed company, it is the most liquid equity proxy for North American neodymium price exposure. See the MP Materials company profile for more.

Lynas Rare Earths (ASX: LYC) operates the Mount Weld mine in Western Australia — one of the highest-grade rare earth deposits outside China — and processes ore at its LAMP facility in Malaysia. It is the largest producer of separated rare earth oxides outside China, including NdPr. Lynas is also constructing a rare earth processing facility in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, and developing a US light rare earth separation facility in Seadrift, Texas, with US government support. See the Lynas Rare Earths company profile for more. Both MP Materials and Lynas remain price-takers relative to Chinese production volumes; Western neodymium supply currently represents less than 15% of global NdPr output. Closing that gap requires sustained elevated neodymium prices to justify the capital expenditure involved — creating a feedback loop where strong prices incentivise the supply growth that eventually moderates them.

Neodymium vs Praseodymium

In practice, neodymium and praseodymium are rarely separated at the trading level. The dominant commercial product is the NdPr blended alloy — containing approximately 75–80% neodymium and 20–25% praseodymium by weight, reflecting their natural co-occurrence in bastnäsite and monazite ore. Magnet manufacturers use NdPr as a combined feedstock: both elements contribute to magnet performance, and the cost of separating them to a purity that justifies re-blending is rarely economic.

As of 3 September 2026, neodymium metal trades at $141.79/kg and praseodymium metal at $150.69/kg on the SMM domestic benchmark — both eased in step this month, keeping a similar gap to August rather than narrowing or widening it. The NdPr alloy benchmark stands at $131.02/kg. See the praseodymium price tracker for the full praseodymium-specific view.

Neodymium Price Outlook

NdPr eased in September after two months of consolidation, with the alloy benchmark down 1.98% to $131.02/kg — the first genuine pullback since May, following June’s softening, July’s sharp rebound, and August’s near-flat plateau. Whether this marks the start of a real correction or a single quiet-to-soft month within the broader deficit-driven recovery is not yet clear, and is worth watching closely at the next update. The next round of MIIT quota guidance and whether Chinese producers respond to the recent margin environment with higher output remain the key near-term swing factors.

The medium-term structural case for an elevated neodymium price rests on three pillars: compounding annual EV sales growth, accelerating wind energy build-out, and the multi-year lag between capital investment in Western mining capacity and actual NdPr supply reaching the market. At $141.79/kg for metal, the neodymium price is now roughly 2.4 times its 2024 low of $60/kg, even after this month’s pullback. For dysprosium and terbium — the heavy rare earth complement to this market — see the dysprosium price tracker. All forecasts are analyst estimates subject to significant revision. This is not investment advice.

Neodymium Price Per Gram, Ounce and Pound

The conversion table below is calculated from the SMM neodymium metal domestic benchmark and updated monthly.

Neodymium Price in GBP, EUR and Other Currencies

Currency conversions are calculated from the SMM domestic benchmark using approximate exchange rates at the time of publication and are for reference only. For live rates, consult your preferred currency provider.

Industrial neodymium price sourced from Shanghai Metals Market (SMM), assessed 3 September 2026. This page is updated on the first of each month. Neither price data nor analysis constitutes investment advice.