What zirconium costs

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

Premium zircon cost about $1,800 per tonne in China in 2025, and zirconium sponge about $22 per kilogram. Zircon prices tripled in 2011 and then fell back. USGS takes the zircon price from a private price service. China buys more zircon than any other country.

Last updated 10 October 2026.

Price

Assessed price

~ $22per kg¹

2025. Zirconium sponge (metal), ex-works China, 2025 estimate. USGS takes the price from Argus Media.

Most zirconium is sold as zircon, not as metal. In 2021, other zirconium metal imported into the United States from France, a major producer of nuclear-grade zirconium, had a unit value of $167 per kg.

Price, delivered to China

$1,800per tonne of premium-grade zircon¹

2025. Premium-grade zircon, cost, insurance and freight, China, 2025 USGS estimate: about $1,800 per t, or $1.80 per kg of zircon.

Value of a year's output

~ $2.2billion a year¹

2025. Our rough estimate: 1.2 million t of zircon concentrates × $1,800 per t (premium-grade zircon, delivered to China) ≈ $2.2 billion. Not all concentrate is premium grade, and the value of metal, chemicals and zirconia made from zircon is not included.

In 2025, premium-grade zircon cost about $1,800 per tonne, delivered to China. That is down from $2,300 in 2022¹. The average value of zircon imported into the United States was about $1,900 per tonne¹.

Zirconium sponge, the raw metal, cost about $22 per kilogram ex-works China in 2025, against $30 in 2022¹. In 2021, other zirconium metal imported into the United States from France had an average value of $167 per kilogram. France is a major producer of nuclear-grade zirconium².

Hafnium comes from the same ore and is far more valuable. Its price rose from $781 per kilogram in 2021 to $6,130 in 2023, and was about $3,800 in 2025¹.

Price history

Price over time, in 2025 US dollars

Unit: USD/t of zircon. Unit value of zirconium mineral concentrates (mostly zircon) in the United States, in 1998 US dollars per tonne of concentrate. A US value, not a world market price. Two sharp rises: in 1974 the value rose from $66 to $276 per t (dollars of each year). In 2011, US prices of standard-grade zircon rose from between $830 and $890 to between $2,550 and $2,750 per t. The 2026 Mineral Commodity Summaries give $1,800 per t for premium-grade zircon in China in 2025 (dollars of 2025). In 2025 US dollars. The source gives 1998 US dollars. We multiplied every value by 1.98, the US consumer price index (CPI-U) for 2025 divided by that for 1998³⁴

Show the numbers

Year	USD/t of zircon
1918	934.2
1920	950
1925	993.5
1930	944.1
1935	1,100
1940	1,776
1945	1,331
1950	687.3
1955	651.8
1960	566.9
1965	533.3
1970	517.5
1973	480
1974	1,803
1975	1,035
1980	711
1985	576.7
1989	916.5
1990	999.4
1995	742.6
1996	948.1
2000	701.2
2005	940.2
2006	1,254
2008	1,179
2009	1,246
2010	1,270
2011	3,792
2012	3,713
2013	1,452
2014	1,428
2015	1,398
2016	1,383
2017	1,327
2018	1,653
2019	1,876
2020	1,740
2021	1,724

The chart is of the US unit value of zircon since 1918, in 1998 dollars³. For most of the 20th century, the value stayed between about $250 and $650 per tonne in those dollars.

In 1974, the value rose about four times, from $66 to $276 per tonne in dollars of the time³. In 2011, US prices of standard-grade zircon rose to between $2,550 and $2,750 per tonne. Before the rise, they had been $830 to $890⁵. From 2003 to 2012, world use grew, largely because of demand in developing economies in Asia and the Middle East⁵. Demand weakened in 2012⁵. The US value fell by more than half in 2013 (see the chart).

How it is traded

USGS uses a price from Fastmarkets, a private price service, for zircon¹. It uses a price from Argus Media for the metal¹.

China is the largest buyer¹. In 2021, its main suppliers were Australia (56%) and South Africa (15%)². Australia and South Africa are the largest exporters¹.

The United States imports zircon mainly from South Africa, Australia and Senegal¹.

By our rough estimate, the zircon mined in 2025 was worth about $2.2 billion: 1.2 million tonnes at about $1,800 per tonne. Not all of it is premium grade, so the true value is probably lower.

Sources

1
U.S. Geological Survey (Shelby N. Johnston), 2026. Zirconium and Hafnium, in Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 , Pp. 1-2: production and use, salient statistics, events, world mine production and reserves, resources, substitutes, footnotes.

World mine production and reserves by country, prices of zircon, sponge and hafnium from 2021 to 2025, US uses, trade, recycling and substitutes.
- Zirconium, sponge, ex-works China,6 dollars per ... 25 ... 30 ... 28 ... 24 ... 22
- Premium grade, cost, insurance, and freight, China4 ... 1,530 1,450 25 2,300 2,130 30 2,160 1,980 28 2,000 2,080 24 1,800 1,900 22
- World total (rounded) ... 1,300 1,200 ... Premium grade, cost, insurance, and freight, China4 ... 1,530 1,450 25 2,300 2,130 30 2,160 1,980 28 2,000 2,080 24 1,800 1,900 22
- Premium grade, cost, insurance, and freight, China4 … 1,530 1,450 25 2,300 2,130 30 2,160 1,980 28 2,000 2,080 24 1,800 1,900 22
- Imported5 … 1,530 1,450 25 2,300 2,130 30 2,160 1,980 28 2,000 2,080 24 1,800 1,900 22
- Zirconium, sponge, ex-works China,6 dollars per … 25 … 30 … 28 … 24 … 22
- Hafnium, unwrought,6 dollars per kilogram … 781 1,590 6,130 4,560 3,800
- Source: Fastmarkets IM.
- Source: Argus Media group, Argus Non-Ferrous Markets, annual average.
- China was the leading importer of zirconium mineral concentrates.
- The leading global exporters of zirconium mineral concentrates were Australia and South Africa.
- Zirconium ores and concentrates: South Africa, 48%; Australia, 35%; Senegal, 15%
2
U.S. Geological Survey (Joseph Gambogi), 2025. Zirconium and Hafnium, in Minerals Yearbook 2021 , Text pp. 86.1-86.6: uses, prices, world review by country.

Uses of zircon, zirconia and the metal, prices in 2021, Chinese imports, and output of the main producers.
- the annual average unit value of other zirconium metal imported from France, a major producer of nuclear-grade zirconium, was $167 per kilogram
- China imported 1.28 Mt in 2021, an increase compared with 1.09 Mt in 2020. China’s leading import sources of zirconium ore and mineral concentrates were Australia (56%) and South Africa (15%)
3
U.S. Geological Survey (C.A. DiFrancesco, J.B. Hedrick, P.J. Loferski, G.M. Bedinger, E.S. Sangine and J. Gambogi), 2023. Zirconium mineral concentrates statistics, in Historical Statistics for Mineral and Material Commodities in the United States (Data Series 140) , ds140-zirconium-2021.xlsx, columns 'Unit value ($/t)', 'Unit value (98$/t)' and 'World production'.

US unit value of zircon from 1918 and world production outside the United States from 1944, to 2021.
- Unit value (98$/t) ... 472.7 ... 898.8 ... 242.6 ... 912.5 ... 1920 ... 1880 ... 873
- Unit value (98$/t)
- Unit value ($/t) … 66.099 … 276
4

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2026. Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U): all items in U.S. city average, series CUUR0000SA0 .

Annual averages 1913 to 2025, 1982-84 = 100. Price series in US dollars are adjusted with it to US dollars of 2025. The page refuses scripts; the text was read with Firecrawl.
5
U.S. Geological Survey (James V. Jones III, Nadine M. Piatak and George M. Bedinger), 2017. Zirconium and Hafnium, chapter V of Critical Mineral Resources of the United States (Professional Paper 1802) , Pp. V1-V26: summary, uses, supply and demand, geology, deposit types, resources, environmental considerations.

Crustal abundance, deposit types, Kovdor, Trail Ridge, metal production, recycling, prices in 2011 and 2012, health and environment.
- In 2011, prices of domestic standard-grade bulk zircon increased to between $2,550 and $2,750 per metric ton
- from between $830 and $890 per metric ton
- largely as a result of increased demand in developing economies in Asia and the Middle East
- Global demand weakened in 2012, causing a decrease in world production of zirconium mineral concentrates