【Flash | USGS Revises U.S. H1 Molybdenum Output Lower】

[September silicon metal production down 11% MoM; Q4 production expected to weaken significantly YoY] According to SMM data, silicon metal production in September was 317,000 mt, down 11.0% MoM and down 24.7% YoY. Cumulative silicon metal production in January-September 2026 was 3.052 million mt, up 1% YoY.

The supply-demand balance remains unchanged, and germanium prices continue to fluctuate on a firm footing. Germanium ingot (50Ω/cm) is quoted at 27,250 yuan/kg, and germanium dioxide (99.999%) at 19,250 yuan/kg; both prices are flat compared with the pre-holiday level, with no price adjustments in the two trading days after the holiday. Previously on September 24, germanium ingot and germanium dioxide were raised by 250 yuan/kg and 100 yuan/kg respectively. The market has entered a phase of high-level digestion after the holiday.

[SMM Tantalum Flash] A trading contact said on 9 October that it was still receiving Rwandan tantalum offers at “4.8+” and had bought no tantalum in the preceding few weeks. Other contacts in the supplied sample described offers above US$4 per kg per grade percentage point. The “4.8+” message did not restate its pricing unit, assay, delivery basis or the dates of the underlying offers. It is a received asking indication, not a transaction price. The contact said its Rwanda tin flows remained stable, but it had held off buying tantalum while considering air-freight economics and had shifted more attention to West Africa. It reported a Nigerian offer and expressed interest in a Sierra Leone trader; neither was described as a completed tantalum purchase. These conversations show how one buyer is responding to the offers, without establishing a representative Rwanda price or a wider change in trade flows.