From Wikepdia we have this background on Molybdenum (Moly); “Molybdenum is a silvery metal with the sixth-highest melting point of any element, it can withstand extremely high temperatures and is highly resistant to corrosion. Molybdenum is mainly used as an alloying agent in stainless steel, and also in the manufacture of aircraft parts and industrial motors. The biggest producers of the metal are: China, United States, Chile, Peru and Mexico. Molybdenum Futures are available for trading in The London Metal Exchange (LME). The standard contact has a weight of 6 tonnes.”

Heat treaters will think of moly as a material used in furnace fixturing but mainly as a metal used in the construction of vacuum furnace hot zones because of its ability to withstand extremely high temperatures. It is also widely used in the production of stainless steels. Like so many things in the world these days moly pricing has seen some serious price pressures and the result can be seen in this graph.

It would appear that there are several reasons for this pricing pressure including the facts that one of the major suppliers, Peru is experiencing major mining interruptions and China is buying large quantities for their own requirements.

Be that as it may it would appear that in the near and medium term moly pricing will be seeing increases-long term it is harder to predict like many other commodities these days.

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