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What hydrogen costs

What does it cost, and how is it bought and sold?

Hydrogen has no exchange price. Most of it is made and used at the same plant. Its "price" is a production cost. In 2025 that was about USD 1 to 4 per kilogram from fossil fuels, and USD 3 to over 10 from renewable power.

Last updated 3 October 2026.

Price

Production cost

~ $2.3per kg1

2025. Production cost (levelised cost of hydrogen), not a market price. Value: IEA average cost of hydrogen from natural gas without carbon capture in Europe over the last 15 years to Q1 2026, in 2025 dollars (GHR 2026 p. 115, Fig. 3.23). Range: IEA global range for unabated fossil routes in 2025, below USD 1 to above USD 4/kg (p. 110). The value and the range are different measures.

Range $1 per kg to $4 per kg. Hydrogen has no exchange price. Most of it is made and used at the same site.

Value of a year's output

~ $237billion a year1

2025. Cost-based estimate, not a market value. Inputs, all from IEA GHR 2026: demand of 103 Mt in 2025 (p. 44) and a cost of USD 2.3/kg (Europe, unabated gas, 15-year average, p. 115). Sum: 103 billion kg times USD 2.3/kg (the IEA 15-year average production cost of gas-based hydrogen in Europe) is about USD 237 billion. Range: 103 billion kg times USD 1 and USD 4/kg (the IEA 2025 world cost range for fossil routes, below USD 1 to above USD 4/kg, p. 110), USD 103 to 412 billion. Most hydrogen is made and used at the same plant and never sold. Europe has higher costs than North America and the Middle East, so the central value may be high.

Range $103 billion a year to $412 billion a year.

No exchange publishes a world price for hydrogen. The numbers people quote are production costs. The IEA calls this the levelised cost of hydrogen (LCOH): the cost per kilogram over the life of a plant, with fuel, equipment and financing.

In 2025, hydrogen from natural gas or coal without carbon capture cost from less than USD 1 to more than USD 4 per kilogram. The cost depended on the local fuel price1. North America and the Middle East had the lowest costs1. Hydrogen from electrolysis with renewable power cost from just over USD 3 to well above USD 10 per kilogram1. A US government laboratory gives lower costs for the United States. It modeled about USD 1.06 per kilogram from gas without carbon capture, and USD 1.64 with it2. It modeled about USD 2.58 from coal2.

We use USD 2.3 per kilogram as a reference cost. It is the IEA’s 15-year average cost of hydrogen from natural gas in Europe, in 2025 dollars1. At that cost, the 103 million tonnes made in 2025 would be worth about USD 240 billion (103 billion kg × USD 2.3). With the IEA range of USD 1 to 4, the value is USD 100 to 400 billion. This is our estimate. Most of this hydrogen is never sold, so it is not a market size.

Price history

There is no long price series for hydrogen. Its cost follows the price of natural gas, because most hydrogen is made from gas.

In 2022, after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, gas prices rose steeply. The cost of hydrogen from gas in Europe went above USD 9 per kilogram as a yearly average, with peaks close to USD 161. Over the last five years, the average European cost was about USD 3 per kilogram1.

The war in the Middle East pushed gas prices up again in 2026. By the end of March, the Asian spot price for liquefied natural gas reached USD 85 per megawatt-hour. The Dutch TTF price reached EUR 701. The IEA estimates that such prices raise the cost of hydrogen from gas by 50% in Europe and 80% in Korea and Japan1. Ammonia in northwest Europe reached about USD 910 per tonne at the end of April 2026, against USD 440 to 700 in 20251.

How it is traded

Most hydrogen is made and used on the same site. Only small volumes travel by truck or pipeline1. In refineries in 2025, 20% of the hydrogen was bought from merchant suppliers. The rest was made on site1.

International trade happens through products made from hydrogen, mainly ammonia and methanol. These are traded as chemical feedstocks1. World ammonia production is about 190 million tonnes a year, and about 10% of it is traded1. The US Geological Survey gives 160 million tonnes of nitrogen3. That is about 194 million tonnes of ammonia (160 × 17.031 ÷ 14.007), close to the IEA figure.

The Middle East supplies more than a quarter of world ammonia trade, almost 40% of urea trade and almost 45% of methanol trade1.

Trade in low-emission hydrogen is new. In 2025 buyers signed agreements for about 1.7 million tonnes a year. For the first time, agreements for trade passed those for domestic use1. In early 2026 the first commercial shipment of ammonia made by electrolysis went from Inner Mongolia, China, to Ulsan, Korea1.

Sources

  1. 1

    International Energy Agency, 2026. Global Hydrogen Review 2026 , Executive summary pp. 9-14; Middle East effects p. 21; Box 1.1 p. 20; targets p. 31; geological hydrogen pp. 36-42; demand pp. 44-57; transport p. 62; production pp. 83-85, 106; costs pp. 110-116; RED transposition p. 133; trade p. 143; policy p. 194; definitions pp. 257-258.

    Hydrogen demand, production routes, costs, emissions, trade and natural hydrogen for 2025.

    • when averaged over the last 15 years, the LCOH from unabated natural gas is USD 2.3/kg H2
    • 103 Mt H2 ... when averaged over the last 15 years, the LCOH from unabated natural gas is USD 2.3/kg H2 ... ranged between less than USD 1/kg H2 and more than USD 4/kg H2 in 2025
    • ranged between less than USD 1/kg H2 and more than USD 4/kg H2 in 2025, depending on the cost of the feedstock
    • The lowest costs occurred in North America and the Middle East
    • from over USD 3/kg H2 to values that can reach well above USD 10/kg H2
    • in Europe, where LCOH reached above USD 9/kg H2 as an annual average, with peak values of close to USD 16/kg H2
    • averaging the LCOH from unabated natural gas over the last 5 years (USD 3/kg H2)
    • rose to reach USD 85/MWh and EUR 70/MWh at the end of March 2026
    • by 50% in Europe and 80% in the Asia-Pacific region, such as in Korea and Japan
    • ammonia price reached around USD 910/t NH3 at the end of April 2026, compared with USD 440-700/t NH3 in 2025
    • hydrogen is mainly produced and consumed on-site, with only limited volumes transported by truck or pipeline
    • the procurement of merchant hydrogen … made up the remaining 20%
    • International trade is mainly limited to ammonia and methanol, which are exchanged primarily as chemical feedstocks
    • global ammonia production is around 190 Mtpa, and around 10% is globally traded
    • the Middle East accounts for more than one-quarter of international ammonia trade (of 16 Mt) and almost 40% of global trade in urea (of 54 Mt) … almost 45% of methanol trade
    • New offtake agreements were broadly unchanged in 2025, at around 1.7 Mt … for the first time, trade-oriented agreements overtook domestic-use agreements in 2025
    • Envision delivered the world’s first commercial shipment of electrolytic ammonia from its plant in Inner Mongolia … to Lotte Fine Chemical at the port of Ulsan, Korea
  2. 2

    Congressional Research Service, 2024. Hydrogen Production: Overview and Issues for Congress (R48196) , Summary; pp. 2-4 and Figure 1; pp. 14-18.

    World production estimates and route shares from US DOE; the 45V tax credit, the hydrogen hubs and the debate in Congress.

    • hydrogen produced from SMR without CCS would cost about $1.06/kilogram (kg) H2, and hydrogen produced from SMR with CCS would … cost about $1.64/kg H2
    • hydrogen produced from coal gasification without CCS would cost about $2.58/kg H2
  3. 3

    U.S. Geological Survey, 2026. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Nitrogen (fixed), ammonia , World ammonia production table.

    World ammonia production in 2025, in nitrogen content.

    • World total (rounded) … 160,000