Erbium Price: Range, Benchmarks and Drivers

USGS reports the average 2025 price of erbium at $46/kg (erbium oxide, 99.5% minimum, average; +7% on 2024). The price has changed by an average of +6% a year since 2021. The table gives the annual averages for each year available, and the sections after it give the dealer price where one is listed and the recent events the sources report.

Erbium price: what the sources report

What recent events affect the erbium market?

• October to November 2025. China added erbium to its rare earth export controls in October 2025 and suspended that expansion for one year in November. The April 2025 controls remained in effect.

Frequently asked questions

How much does erbium cost?

USGS reports the average 2025 price of erbium at $46/kg (erbium oxide, 99.5% minimum, average; +7% on 2024).

Which country produces the most erbium?

USGS does not report erbium separately; China produced the most rare earths of any country in 2025, an estimated 270,000 t (69%) of the world's 390,000 t of rare earth oxide equivalent.

Is erbium a critical mineral?

Yes. Erbium is on all four official critical minerals lists: the US, EU, Australian and Canadian. Erbium was already on the 2022 US list and stays on the final 2025 list of 60 minerals. US net import reliance for erbium in 2025 was 100% for heavy rare earth compounds and metals.

What is erbium used for?

Erbium is used in fiber-optic amplifiers and other heavy rare earth uses. Fiber-optic amplifiers: cables carry signals over long distances because they incorporate periodically spaced lengths of erbium-doped fiber that act as laser amplifiers; erbium is used despite its high cost because it alone has the required optical properties (USGS, 2002).

Sources

Read on October 13, 2026. Figures on this page come from these documents; where a number is an estimate, the source says so.

1. USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Rare earths. Production, reserves, uses, substitutes, recycling and events
2. USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Rare earths (heavy)
3. USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: introduction (Table 7 and Figures 10A and 10B). Net import reliance, leading producer and price changes for critical minerals
4. USGS Fact Sheet 087-02: Rare Earth Elements, Critical Resources for High Technology (2002). Used for the uses of individual elements; it dates from 2002
5. Federal Register: Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals
6. EUR-Lex: Regulation (EU) 2024/1252
7. Department of Industry, Science and Resources: Australia’s Critical Minerals List and Strategic Materials List
8. Government of Canada: Canada’s critical minerals
9. Treibacher Industrie: glass industry page
10. IPG Photonics, Form 10-K for 2025 (filed 23 February 2026)
11. China Northern Rare Earth: 2025 annual report, in Chinese (17 April 2026)