Terbium price 2026 clears a new high and holds it
Terbium is a heavy rare earth metal added to the magnets inside electric car motors, wind turbines and defense equipment, and its price is set almost entirely inside China. The domestic terbium price jumped 21.6% in July 2026 to 1,179.54 dollars a kilogram, a new high for the year, clearing the previous 2026 high of 970.18 dollars a kilogram set in April. The gain did not fade. By September 3, 2026, the price stood at 1,097.08 dollars a kilogram, almost unchanged from August.
All 3 points are Rare Earth Mining monthly domestic benchmark assessments for terbium inside China.
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| April | 970.18 |
| June | 969.69 |
| July | 1179.54 |
The terbium price towers over lighter rare earth metals
Terbium trades far above the common light rare earths used in the same magnets. In September 2026, terbium cost 1,097.08 dollars a kilogram inside China, more than 7 times the 141.79 dollars a kilogram price of neodymium metal and the 150.69 dollars a kilogram price of praseodymium metal. Dysprosium, the other heavy element under the same license rule, cost 239.12 dollars a kilogram, above the light metals but still far below terbium. Across 19 rare earth elements tracked, 10 rose in September 2026, 8 fell and 1 held flat, an average change of just 0.31%. Terbium and dysprosium moving apart from that average points to a shared cause, not a coincidence.
All 4 domestic prices come from the same September 2026 monthly assessment inside China.
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| Neodymium | 141.79 |
| Praseodymium | 150.69 |
| Dysprosium | 239.12 |
| Terbium | 1097.08 |
The license rule behind the terbium price has never been suspended
This is not a metal shortage. It is a licensing rule that controls who may ship terbium. Since April 2025, China has required a government approved license for every shipment of 7 heavy rare earth elements, including terbium and dysprosium, and that rule has never been suspended and carries no expiration date. A separate, broader rule added in October 2025 covers 5 more elements and also reaches foreign made products with Chinese origin rare earth content, and that broader rule is the 1 currently suspended, due to expire November 10, 2026, a date traders already treat as a catalyst for the wider heavy rare earth market. The license requirement covering terbium is not tied to that date and does not expire then.
Outside China buyers pay a premium and non China supply still lags
The licensing system pushes the price higher again once metal crosses the border. Terbium sold for 1,483 dollars a kilogram outside China in July 2026, a spread of 303 dollars, 25.7% above the domestic price recorded that same day, and reached 1,557 dollars a kilogram by September 2, 2026. That premium exists because China performs 98% to 99% of the worldwide separation work, the chemical processing step that turns mixed rare earth ore into pure metals such as terbium, so most buyers outside China depend on metal that already passed through a Chinese export license. A projection from McKinsey, CRU Group and Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, reported by TechTimes, says non China production of dysprosium and terbium will meet less than 1 fifth of global demand by 2035, the structural reason a market this small can jump a fifth in a month and stay there.
Even if China continues to suspend its export restrictions going into 2027, it is not a reliable export partner to the United States during times of heightened geopolitical tensions.
Gracelin Baskaran, director of the critical minerals security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Source 4.
China holds at least 70% of world mining or refining for 17 of the 34 raw materials the European Union deems critical, a Council on Foreign Relations report found in September 2026. Terbium is 1 piece of a larger pattern.