Magnesium — 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 88%
- USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026
- Top 3 producers
- 95%
- share of world output
- Concentration (HHI)
- 7,736
- highly concentrated
- Producing countries
- 7
- 1 supply half
- Export measures
- 1
- USGS compilation, Jan 2026
Key findings
What the evidence shows
World production and the largest producer
The USGS puts world production at 1,100 thousand metric tons. China is the largest producer with 88% of the total.
How concentrated supply is
The Herfindahl-Hirschman index over country shares is 7,736 (highly concentrated). The top three producers hold 95%; 1 country supplies half.
Export measures in force
1 measure bears on this mineral: China.
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).
Trade
Export measures in force
| Country | Measure |
|---|---|
| China | China maintains an export licensing requirement for materials and technologies covering Antimony (2024), bismuth (2025), synthesized diamond (2025), gallium (2023), germanium (2023), graphite (2023), indium (2025), magnesium materials (2024), molybdenum (2025), rare earths (2025), silver (2026), tellurium (2025), tungsten (2025), and items related to lithium batteries and artificial graphite anode materials (2025), as compiled by the USGS from official and reported sources effective January 2026. |
Full analysis and cited sources
Where magnesium is produced
China is the largest producer of magnesium, at 87.7 percent of the published world total in 2025[1]. It is followed by Russia at 5.5 percent, Brazil at 1.8 percent and Israel at 1.8 percent. The USGS puts world production at 1,100 thousand metric tons; the sum of the country figures is 1,083 thousand metric tons, the difference being rounding in the published total.[1]
How concentrated supply is
Measured by the Herfindahl-Hirschman index over production shares, magnesium supply is highly concentrated, with an index of 7,736. The top three producers hold 95.1 percent of output, and a single producer accounts for more than 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. The principal sources of United States imports over 2021–24 were China (58 percent), Israel (20 percent) and Canada (15 percent)[2].
Trade measures in force
The USGS compilation of export controls effective January 2026 records one measure bearing on magnesium. China maintains an export licensing requirement for materials and technologies covering Antimony (2024), bismuth (2025), synthesized diamond (2025), gallium (2023), germanium (2023), graphite (2023), indium (2025), magnesium materials (2024), molybdenum (2025), rare earths (2025), silver (2026), tellurium (2025), tungsten (2025), and items related to lithium batteries and artificial graphite anode materials (2025), as compiled by the USGS from official and reported sources effective January 2026.[3] A control listed here removes the tonnage concerned from the international market by law, whatever the production table implies about availability.
Recent United States official notices
Federal Register documents naming magnesium, most recent first. 2025-11-07: Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals. Critical minerals are essential for national security, economic stability, and supply chain resilience because they underpin key industries, drive technological innovation, and support critical infrastructure vital for a modern American economy. The United States is heavily reliant on imports of certain mineral commodities from foreign sources, some of which are at risk of serious, sustained, and long-term supply chain disruptions.[4]
Magnesium 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.
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 Magnesium?▼
Global Magnesium 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 Magnesium?▼
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 Magnesium, and can it be substituted?▼
Magnesium is essential across energy transition, advanced electronics, and defense systems. While direct substitutes exist in select low-performance applications, replacing Magnesium in mission-critical hardware incurs significant metallurgical and cost trade-offs.