Prices
No single exchange-settled price exists for lutetium. Trade settles over-the-counter against benchmarks published by independent price-reporting agencies. We do not republish those numbers — consult the publishers directly:
Shanghai Metals Market ↗
Daily Chinese rare-earth oxide and metal benchmark quotations.
Fastmarkets — Rare Earths ↗
MB FOB China benchmark prices and market intelligence.
Asian Metal ↗
Daily REE oxide quotations from Chinese suppliers (subscription).
USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 ↗
Annual U.S. Geological Survey reference — production, reserves, prices, and trade statistics for lutetium.
About Lutetium
Editorial overviewWhat is lutetium?
Lutetium (Lu, atomic number 71) is a silvery rare earth metal in the lanthanide series, and Lynas classifies it as a heavy rare earth. Lynas Rare Earths
How lutetium is priced
Lutetium has no exchange-listed contract. The reference market is the Chinese domestic spot market, where prices are published daily by Shanghai Metals Market (SMM) and the China Rare Earth Industry Association. International benchmark assessments are published by Fastmarkets and Argus Media on a daily/weekly basis. Both are regulated benchmark administrators under UK/EU BMR. The LME does not currently list a Lutetium-specific contract; cash-settled rare-earth contracts on LME are limited to NdPr oxide.
Where lutetium comes from
USGS’s 2026 rare-earths summary lists China, Burma, the United States, Australia, and Madagascar as the top mine producers in 2025, with China at 270,000 tons, Burma at 222,000 tons, the United States at 51,000 tons, Australia at 29,000 tons, and Madagascar at 22,700 tons of rare-earth-oxide content. USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Rare Earths Full breakdown in the production and reserves sections.
Who produces lutetium
Lutetium is produced within the rare-earth supply chain rather than by a small set of dedicated primary mines, and the principal heavy-rare-earth and downstream producers named in industry materials are China Northern Rare Earth, MP Materials (United States), Lynas Rare Earths (Australia), Iluka Resources (Australia), and Shenghe Resources (China). Lynas Rare Earths, MP Materials Full list of producers below.
What lutetium is used for
Lutetium’s best-documented commercial use in the sources reviewed is PET scanners, which Lynas lists as a current application for the element. More broadly, rare earths are used in magnets, catalysts, batteries, ceramics and glass, metallurgical alloys, and polishing; USGS says catalysts are the leading domestic end use and magnets are the leading global use. Lynas Rare Earths, USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Rare Earths
Key facts about lutetium supply
- USGS MCS 2026: world rare-earth mine production was 390,000 tons in 2025, while world reserves were greater than 75,000,000 tons, implying roughly 192 years of cover at the 2025 mine-production rate. USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Rare Earths
- USGS MCS 2026: China produced 270,000 tons of rare earths in 2025, equal to about 69% of the world total. USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Rare Earths
- USGS MCS 2026: U.S. imports of rare-earth compounds and metals increased by 169% in 2025, and the estimated import sources for 2021–24 were China 71%, Malaysia 13%, Japan 5%, Estonia 5%, and other 6%. USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Rare Earths
- USGS MCS 2026: only limited quantities of rare earths were recovered from batteries, permanent magnets, and fluorescent lamps, so secondary supply remains small. USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Rare Earths
- Lynas says lutetium sits in the heavy-rare-earth group from europium to lutetium, and that heavy rare earths are less common and therefore more expensive. Lynas Rare Earths
Sources: USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Rare Earths, Lynas Rare Earths, MP Materials
Mine Production by Country
Source: USGS MCS 2026Per-country production data not published by USGS
USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 reports rare-earth production and reserves on a combined rare-earth-oxide (REO) basis only — per-country data are not broken out by individual element. Lutetium production and reserves figures are not separately published by USGS. For the consolidated REE-group table covering all rare earths, see the Rare Earth Elements (REE) page.
Source: USGS MCS 2026
Major Producers (0)
No producer data available for this metal.
Latest News
All metals news →No recent news for this metal. Visit the Hub news section for all metals news.
Frequently Asked Questions
Auto-generated from primary-source dataWhat is the primary source for lutetium production and reserves data?
Country-level lutetium production and reserves figures on TSM Hub are sourced directly from the USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026, the U.S. Geological Survey's authoritative annual reference. Company-level production figures come from each producer's official annual report, production report, or regulated exchange filing.