Cadmium — Structural brief
How the supply chain for this commodity is shaped: where it is mined, where it is processed, and which step is the bottleneck.
At a glance
- Largest producer
- China 41%
- USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026
- Top 3 producers
- 65%
- share of world output
- Concentration (HHI)
- 2,182
- moderately concentrated
- Producing countries
- 16
- 2 supply half
- Export measures
- 0
- USGS compilation, Jan 2026
Key findings
What the evidence shows
World production and the largest producer
The USGS puts world production at 23,000 metric tons. China is the largest producer with 41% of the total.
How concentrated supply is
The Herfindahl-Hirschman index over country shares is 2,182 (moderately concentrated). The top three producers hold 65%; 2 countries supply half.
In this report
The questions it answers
Supply
Who produces it
Below 1,500 is read as unconcentrated and above 2,500 as highly concentrated (US merger-review bands, used as a reference point).
Full analysis and cited sources
Where cadmium is produced
China is the largest producer of cadmium, at 41.0 percent of the published world total in 2025[1]. It is followed by Republic of Korea at 18.6 percent, Canada at 5.6 percent and Japan at 5.6 percent. The USGS puts world production at 23,000 metric tons; the sum of the country figures is 23,160 metric tons, the difference being rounding in the published total.[1]
How concentrated supply is
Measured by the Herfindahl-Hirschman index over production shares, cadmium supply is moderately concentrated, with an index of 2,182. The top three producers hold 65.2 percent of output, and 2 producers together account for half of supply. An index below 1,500 is conventionally read as unconcentrated and above 2,500 as highly concentrated; the thresholds are the United States merger-review bands, used here as a published reference point rather than as a judgement about market conduct.
Trade measures in force
The USGS compilation of export controls effective January 2026 records no measure specific to cadmium. That is a statement about the compiled list, not a guarantee of open trade: measures framed around ores and concentrates generally, or around a broader commodity group, can still apply.
Cadmium Beneficiation & Cash Flow Simulator
An illustrative model built on typical published cost ranges. Change feed grade and throughput to see how the margin moves.
The model runs in the Workbench: register free to run it 3 times a day.
Contractual Penalty Schedule & Deleterious Limits
Standard commercial deduction guidelines enforced by off-taker smelters and converters for non-compliant impurity concentrations:
Model Cargo Financing, CIF Arbitrage & Letter of Credit
Test physical maritime shipments, demurrage risk, hedging spreads, and working capital cash turns in the Trade Desk.
Operating Smelters & Processing Facilities
Facility records and processing directories are manually researched and maintained by MiningBridge analysts.
30-mineral criticality list (2023)
Executive Briefing & Strategic FAQ
Essential empirical supply-chain and geopolitical questions for market participants and intelligence analysts.
Which countries dominate global mining and refining for Cadmium?▼
Global Cadmium production is characterized by high geographical concentration in both raw extraction and chemical processing, as documented in MiningBridge's empirical supply-chain models.
What are the critical supply chain bottlenecks and geopolitical risks for Cadmium?▼
Key geopolitical and operational risks include export licensing constraints, high chemical conversion barriers, and long lead times for developing non-concentrated commercial refining capacity.
What are the primary commercial uses for Cadmium, and can it be substituted?▼
Cadmium is essential across energy transition, advanced electronics, and defense systems. While direct substitutes exist in select low-performance applications, replacing Cadmium in mission-critical hardware incurs significant metallurgical and cost trade-offs.