What is scandium is it already in shortage?
Scandium is a soft, silvery metal classified as a rare earth element (RRE) group (although, as the 32nd most abundant element on earth (gold is the 75th), it is far from being rare)
The problem is that scandium is spread widely and thinly, most often combining with other metals, so it is mostly processed as a by-product from other mined metals.
This means there is little reliable data on production, especially in what is a relatively small market, so it’s difficult to understand the size of the market, as well as supply and demand dynamics.
And, importantly for mining, high-grade deposits suitable for commercial mining are extremely rare, and extracting it as a by-product from other ores is similarly challenging.
USGS estimates global consumption at approximately 60 tonnes of scandium oxide in 2025. This is oxide tonnage, not scandium metal.
But, there’s a reason it’s listed as a critical mineral in the US, EU, Canada, Australia.
The available annual figures do not establish an immediate global deficit, with the US Geological Survey estimating that consumption reached 60 tonnes of scandium oxide in 2025 while citing industry estimates of approx 80 tonnes of production and more than 90 tonnes of annual capacity
However, supply is tightening as China ratchets up restrictions on scandium exports. In April 2025, responding to Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs covering a broad range of Chinese products, Beijing announced export control on seven rare earth elements, including scandium and its associated metals, oxides, alloys, compounds, targets and magnet materials.
Beijing suspended its October 2025 restrictions until November 2026 but, then in April 2025, Chinese customs data indicate that exports of yttrium, terbium, scandium and dysprosium to the US, effectively halted.
The US has been 100% dependent on imports of scandium for the last 20 years, with Japan suppling 89% of US scandium oxide imports during 2021–2024. That supply includes material refined from Philippine feedstock, but the report does not disclose the upstream origin of the entire Japanese share — with obvious concerns over China’s leading share of global production and exports.
