Terbium Price Today: Spot Rate, FOB & Market Outlook

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

• The terbium price stands at $1,097.08/kg domestic, essentially flat, up 0.22% month-on-month.
• FOB China terbium eased slightly to $1,557/kg, down 0.51%, narrowing the domestic-to-FOB spread to 41.9% from August’s 43.0%.
• This is the second consecutive quiet month following July’s sharp 21.6% domestic rally to a new 2026 high.
• Terbium continues to trade at roughly 4.6× the per-kilogram price of dysprosium, reflecting its lower crustal abundance.
• China’s export licensing framework and EV/wind magnet demand remain the dominant structural price drivers.

The terbium price stands at $1,097.08/kg as of 3 September 2026, according to the Shanghai Metals Market (SMM) domestic benchmark, up a modest 0.22% from $1,094.68/kg at the August benchmark. This follows August’s 7.19% pullback from July’s sharp rally, meaning the domestic terbium price has now held broadly steady for a second straight month after two months of large moves in opposite directions. Terbium is a heavy rare earth element (HREE) sourced primarily from ionic adsorption clay deposits in southern China. It is an industrial material with no meaningful retail investment market; the terbium price reflects physical procurement by magnet manufacturers and specialty alloy producers rather than exchange-traded speculation.

Current Terbium Price

Prices below are sourced from Shanghai Metals Market, the primary industrial benchmark for rare earth pricing.

No retail investment benchmark exists for terbium. The FOB terbium price reflects export-ready material and incorporates export duties, logistics, and margin for Chinese trading intermediaries. The spread between domestic ($1,097.08/kg) and FOB ($1,557/kg) — approximately $460/kg or 41.9% — has narrowed slightly from the $470/kg (43.0%) spread in August, as both benchmarks eased modestly and roughly in step with one another rather than diverging.

Terbium Price History

For context, the dysprosium price stood at $239.12/kg domestic as of 3 September 2026. The terbium price trades at roughly 4.6× the per-kg price of dysprosium, reflecting terbium’s lower natural crustal abundance and narrower primary deposit base. Neodymium and NdPr alloy moved in the opposite direction this month — see the neodymium price tracker for the light rare earth side of the magnet complex.

What Is Terbium Used For

Terbium’s dominant end-use is as a performance additive in neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) permanent magnets. When operating temperatures exceed approximately 100°C — as occurs in electric vehicle traction motors and direct-drive wind turbine generators — standard NdFeB magnets lose coercivity (resistance to demagnetisation). Small additions of terbium (and separately, dysprosium) restore high-temperature coercivity, making them functionally irreplaceable in demanding motor applications.

Secondary uses include terbium-activated phosphors in solid-state lighting and displays, and magneto-optical materials for data storage applications. These uses are comparatively minor in volume terms relative to the magnet sector.

What Is Driving the Terbium Price

Global electric vehicle production continues to expand, with high-performance motor grades requiring HREE-doped NdFeB magnets. Analysts expect EV-related magnet demand to represent the primary structural growth vector for the terbium price through at least 2030, subject to continued policy support and consumer adoption rates in major markets. New offshore wind installations also add structural terbium demand independent of EV growth.

Grain Boundary Diffusion (GBD) technology has materially reduced the quantity of terbium required per magnet by concentrating HREE additions at grain boundaries rather than distributing them homogeneously through the magnet matrix — an estimated 30–50% efficiency gain in some high-volume grades. However, GBD has not eliminated terbium demand. It has made consumption more efficient while total output volume grows. The net effect on absolute terbium demand remains dependent on overall magnet production volumes, which continue to increase.

China accounts for over 90% of global terbium production, sourced primarily from ionic adsorption clay deposits in Jiangxi and Fujian provinces. This geology — distinct from the light REE bastnäsite and monazite deposits that produce neodymium — produces a HREE-enriched leachate that is the world’s dominant commercial source of terbium, dysprosium, and other heavy rare earths. China’s export control framework includes terbium within its scope. Any tightening of export licensing — particularly in the context of geopolitical trade tensions — represents a direct upside terbium price catalyst. Procurement managers and buyers should consult USGS Rare Earths Statistics for updated supply concentration data.

The gap between China’s domestic terbium price and the FOB export price reflects export duties, VAT treatment, trader margins, and implicit policy-driven pricing differentiation. Western buyers pay the FOB price or above; Chinese magnet manufacturers access the lower domestic terbium price. This structural spread, currently around $460/kg, is a persistent cost disadvantage for non-Chinese magnet producers and a key variable tracked by procurement teams sourcing outside China.

Western Terbium Supply Development

Non-Chinese terbium supply remains extremely limited. Northern Minerals (ASX: NTU), which operates the Browns Range project in Western Australia, is one of the most advanced HREE development projects outside China, containing xenotime mineralisation with a meaningful terbium and dysprosium resource. The project completed a pilot plant phase but has faced financing and permitting challenges typical of early-stage HREE projects; progress updates should be verified against current ASX filings.

Energy Fuels (NYSE: UUUU) processes monazite sand concentrate through its White Mesa Mill in Utah, producing a mixed rare earth carbonate that contains HREE fractions including terbium. While the company’s primary rare earth output is weighted toward light REEs, monazite’s HREE content makes Energy Fuels a potential contributor to non-Chinese terbium supply at commercial scale, subject to downstream separation capacity development. Neither project is expected to materially alter global terbium supply concentration in the near term. Western HREE supply diversification remains a medium-to-long-term structural objective.

Terbium vs Dysprosium

Terbium and dysprosium are frequently discussed together because both are added to NdFeB magnets to improve high-temperature coercivity. However, they are not interchangeable. High-performance magnet grades typically use both elements in combination, with their respective proportions determined by the specific coercivity and thermal tolerance targets of the application.

The terbium price premium over dysprosium — approximately 4.6× on a per-kg basis as of September 2026 — reflects terbium’s lower natural abundance in HREE-bearing deposits, lower recovery rates in processing, and smaller total addressable supply. The ratio has eased slightly from August’s 4.7×, since dysprosium rose faster than terbium this month.

Terbium Price Outlook

The terbium price held broadly steady at $1,097.08/kg in September, up a modest 0.22% and confirming that August’s 7.19% pullback was a genuine partial correction rather than the start of a sustained reversal. Two consecutive quiet months following July’s sharp rally suggest the market has settled into a new, higher range rather than continuing to trend strongly in either direction. Key upside catalysts remain further tightening of China’s export licensing framework, accelerating EV production volumes in China, Europe, and North America, and any delay to non-Chinese HREE projects reducing the medium-term supply diversification timeline.

Key downside risks are weaker-than-expected EV demand, Chinese quota increases, faster-than-anticipated adoption of GBD across additional magnet grades, and any substitution research yielding viable lower-HREE magnet formulations. Medium-term (2027–2029), the consensus directional view among supply chain analysts remains constructive for the terbium price, with structural demand growth from electrification unlikely to be fully offset by efficiency gains. The 2022 peak of approximately $2,800/kg is not widely forecast to be revisited without a severe supply shock. For broader rare earth pricing context, see the Rare Earth Market Outlook — August 2026.

Terbium Price Per Gram, Ounce and Pound

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

Terbium 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.

Disclaimer: This page is provided for informational purposes only. Nothing on this page constitutes investment advice, financial advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any financial instrument or commodity. Rare earth markets involve significant price volatility and liquidity risk. Price data sourced from SMM and other third parties is believed accurate but is not independently verified by rare-earth-mining.com.