Vanadium is not found in nature in its pure form, but it is found as a trace element in nearly 65 various minerals. In 2012, the world reserves of vanadium-containing minerals were estimated at around 63 million tonnes; and the global reserves of vanadium stood at approximately 14 million tonnes. In the same year, China, Russia and South Africa accounted for 95% of the world’s total vanadium reserves.
Vanadium: structure of the world reserves broken down by country, 2012
In 2012, the world production of vanadium registered a 0.8% YoY increase and exceeded 62.8 thousand tonnes. China ranked the 1st in the world in terms of vanadium output volume; the country accounted for just over 36.5% of the world’s total vanadium production. The 2nd position was held by South Africa.
Vanadium: structure of the world production broken down by country, 2012
American Vanadium Corp., Huludao Hong Jing Environment Co, Gulf Chemical and Metallurgical Corp, Evraz Group, Shanghai Jiuling Smelting Co, JSC Uralredmet, JSC Chusovoy, Beihai Special Ferroalloy Group, Dalian Galaxy Metal Material Co and Gansu Winshine Vanadium are among the top companies active in the world vanadium market.
A number of other elements (substitutes) can be used in a range of vanadium applications. For example, some metals such as niobium, molybdenum, manganese, tungsten and titanium are to a certain degree interchangeable with vanadium as alloying element in steel. Nickel and platinum can replace vanadium compounds as catalysts in some chemical processes. Nevertheless, there is no any acceptable substitute for vanadium in aerospace titanium alloys.
The short-term future outlook for the vanadium market appears to be rather strong. Increasing steel demand (forecast through to at least 2015), introduction of novel application areas, mandates for higher quality steel in the emerging countries are predicted to stimulate the increase in the global vanadium consumption in the years ahead. Moreover, the world vanadium production is poised to grow by nearly 1.5% per year through 2017. The global vanadium production is likely to surpass the 67.7 thousand tones mark in 2017.
More information on vanadium market can be found in the study “Vanadium: 2014 Market Review and Forecast”.