According to the calculation of pure molybdenum equivalence based on the statistics released by the U. S. Department of Commerce, the export volume in the period from January to November in 2014 was 652.3 million lbs (up by 23.7% from the year-earlier period), and the import volume was 380.9 million lbs (up by 19.9% ditto).

USA has 8 major molybdenum mines (3 full-time mines and 5 by-product mines) in the country, and therefore the balance between import and export basically shows an excess of exports.

[Export] Such overseas outsourced production has continued since early times as unroasted ore (molybdenum sulfide) is exported to Mexico for the purpose of processing and is imported as roasted ore (molybdenum oxide). In addition to this, the increased export of both roasted and unroasted ores to Europe in 2014 made a big increase in the export volume in terms of pure molybdenum equivalence as compared with the year-earlier period.

[Import] Albeit the total import of roasted ore of overseas outsourced production was up by 12.0% from the year-earlier period, the import of unroasted ore was up by 20.7% ditto and the same of ferro-molybdenum was grossly up by 25.6% ditto, which the increased import of unroasted ore from Peru as well as the same of ferro-molybdenum from Chile contributed a lot to.

• [Editor:Mango]