[SMM Analysis] A Brief Analysis of Ammonium Perrhenate Imports and Ex-China Supply and Inventory Situation

Based on China’s ammonium perrhenate import data in recent years and Chile’s ammonium perrhenate export data, Chile, as a core global supply source of ammonium perrhenate, has largely depleted its available inventory after a previous period of large-scale shipments overseas. From 2020 to 2024, Chile’s exports of ammonium perrhenate to China showed a sustained upward trend, rising from only several thousand kg in the early stage to tens of thousands of kg in peak years, continuously supplying cargoes to the global market; however, in 2025, Chile’s shipments overseas pulled back markedly, spot supply tightened significantly, indirectly indicating that its market-circulating inventory has largely exited the market, and that spot resources available for immediate release in the short term are relatively limited.

In addition to Chile, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are China’s other two major import sources of ammonium perrhenate. As China’s National Mineral Resources Plan (2021–2025) formally included rhenium in the list of strategic minerals, rhenium’s strategic attributes have been clarified, and ensuring rhenium resources has received high-level attention domestically. Meanwhile, outside China, a rhenium “Project Vault” independent of the US Department of Defense’s existing stockpiling system has been introduced; major countries worldwide have begun to strengthen controls and stockpiling arrangements for minor metal resources such as rhenium, further disrupting globally circulating cargoes.

According to a June 15 report by Chile’s Diario Financiero, Chile’s state-owned copper producer Codelco primarily recovers and extracts rhenium from copper-molybdenum concentrates from four major mines—Chuquicamata, El Teniente, Andina, and Salvador—and then hands it over to its subsidiary Molyb for processing in Mejillones to produce ammonium perrhenate. The destinations of its output are clearly differentiated: nearly half is sold to the North American market, about 30% flows to China, and the remaining 20% supplies the European market. Against the backdrop of depleted inventory within Chile, Codelco’s rhenium output has become an important supply base for the global market; however, this production is dependent on by-product output from copper-molybdenum smelting, and the growth elasticity of capacity is limited.

Looking ahead, rhenium is regarded by many countries as a critical strategic mineral, with rising demand for strategic stockpiles; coupled with declining inventory in major supply regions, the global spot supply landscape for ammonium perrhenate will continue to draw broad attention. On the one hand, Chile’s spot inventory has largely been depleted, and short-term growth will depend more on the release of by-product smelting capacity; on the other hand, the export willingness of other supplier countries such as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the pace of capacity release, and countries’ strategic positioning actions will all continue to affect globally circulating ammonium perrhenate cargoes. Going forward, supply security for rhenium resources will become a key focus across the industry chain.