Gallium Production by Country: Rankings and Alternative Supply

China produced roughly 750 of the 760 metric tons of primary gallium mined worldwide in 2024, or about 99 percent of the global total, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Only three other countries produced measurable amounts, and the United States produced none. Gallium production by country is more lopsided than almost any other industrial metal, and the gap has widened rather than narrowed over the past two years.¹

Primary Gallium Production by Country in 2024

The USGS reports four countries with measurable primary low-purity gallium output in 2024:¹

China: 750 metric tons
Russia: 6 metric tons
Japan: 3 metric tons
South Korea: 3 metric tons

Global primary output totaled about 760 metric tons. The United States produced zero primary gallium and imported roughly 19 metric tons to meet domestic consumption. No other country registered measurable primary output.¹

Global capacity tells a slightly different story than actual output. Total production capacity worldwide is estimated at about 1,100 metric tons per year, meaning significant unused capacity exists outside China. Japan has capacity for roughly 10 metric tons, South Korea about 16 metric tons, and Russia about 10 metric tons. Those facilities are running well below what they could produce.¹

The concentration is intensifying. In 2023, China produced about 621 metric tons out of a global total of 633 metric tons. By 2024, Chinese output had jumped to 750 metric tons while production in the rest of the world stayed flat.¹

Why China Produces Almost All of It

Gallium does not form ore deposits of its own. It occurs as a trace element in bauxite, the ore used to make aluminum, and to a smaller extent in sphalerite, a zinc ore. Nobody mines these ores for gallium; the metal is only economically recoverable as a byproduct of aluminum or zinc production. Whoever refines the most aluminum has the biggest gallium feedstock, and China operates the largest aluminum smelting and refining sector in the world by a wide margin.

The economics favor incumbents. Extracting gallium from an already-running aluminum refinery costs relatively little because the expensive ore processing is happening anyway. Chinese facilities have installed dedicated extraction units inside their aluminum complexes, capturing gallium from the caustic soda liquor used in the Bayer process. Countries without large-scale aluminum refining lack the industrial base to produce gallium at competitive prices, which is why the roster of active producers outside China has shrunk over the past two decades.

This byproduct relationship also caps how fast anyone can respond to shortages. Gallium production cannot grow independently of aluminum or zinc output, so a new supply chain requires either expanding aluminum refining or extracting gallium from existing waste streams.

Chinese Export Controls Have Changed What “Production” Means

Where gallium is mined is one question. Where it can legally be shipped is another. Beijing has moved twice in two years to restrict outbound flows.

On August 1, 2023, China’s Ministry of Commerce and General Administration of Customs imposed export licensing requirements on gallium and germanium products under Announcement No. 23 of 2023. Any company seeking to export gallium metal or gallium compounds from China now needs a specific license through provincial commerce authorities. The regulation classified gallium as an “advantageous resource,” a designation that subjects each shipment to national security review.² Chinese gallium exports fell sharply as the licensing bureaucracy slowed shipments.

China escalated on December 3, 2024, when the Ministry of Commerce issued Notice 2024 No. 46. This regulation states that exports of gallium, germanium, antimony, and superhard materials to the United States are “in principle not permitted.” It also prohibits exports of dual-use items to U.S. military users or for military applications, and warns that any organization or individual worldwide transferring Chinese-origin gallium to a U.S. entity in violation of these rules will face legal consequences. The measure was issued the same day the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security added 140 Chinese entities to its Entity List.

The practical effect is a two-tier world market: China still supplies most other countries through the licensing system, but direct shipments to the United States have been cut off.

Countries Working to Build Alternative Supply

Several governments and companies are moving to diversify. None will displace Chinese dominance in the near term, but the direction is clear.

United States

The Department of Defense awarded $29.9 million under the Defense Production Act to ElementUS Minerals to build a demonstration gallium extraction facility in Gramercy, Louisiana. The company’s process recovers gallium from more than 30 million tons of bauxite residue already sitting in waste ponds at alumina refineries, requiring no new mining. Initial development work is being done at the company’s accelerator facility in Cedar Park, Texas.³

Kazakhstan

Eurasian Resources Group announced plans to begin gallium production in Kazakhstan in 2026, scaling to 15 metric tons per year. If realized, that would make Kazakhstan the second-largest producer after China. The company said it intends to supply OECD countries.

Germany

Germany’s Stade refinery, once a significant producer, has announced plans to restart operations by 2027 with expected capacity of roughly 40 metric tons per year.

Australia and the European Union

Australia processes large volumes of bauxite but produces very little gallium because the recovery economics have not justified the investment. CSIRO, the national science agency, is working with Geoscience Australia to estimate the gallium resource potential in Australian zinc deposits.⁴ The European Union has listed gallium as a critical raw material under its Critical Raw Materials Act.⁵

High-Purity Refining Is a Different Country List

Primary gallium coming out of aluminum refineries is low-purity material, typically around 99.99 percent (4N). Semiconductor manufacturing needs 6N (99.9999 percent) or 7N (99.99999 percent) purity.⁶ The countries doing that advanced refining are not the same as the countries doing primary extraction.

Canada, China, Japan, Slovakia, and the United States are the known principal producers of high-purity refined gallium. Global high-purity refined production reached an estimated 320 metric tons in 2024, against total refining capacity of about 340 metric tons per year.¹

Recycling adds another layer. Semiconductor fabrication generates substantial scrap, and reclaiming gallium from manufacturing waste is technically mature. Secondary high-purity production capacity is estimated at 280 metric tons per year and is concentrated in the same refining countries.¹ That recycling base gives countries like Japan and the United States some supply security that their lack of primary production would otherwise deny them.

How the Recovery Process Shapes the Rankings

Gallium concentrations in bauxite deposits worldwide range from less than 10 parts per million to about 812 ppm, with a global average near 57 ppm.⁷ At those levels, gallium is only worth capturing when the ore is already being processed for something else.

In aluminum refining, gallium accumulates in the caustic soda liquor used during the Bayer process, and specialized ion-exchange resins or solvent extraction systems pull it out of the stream. Zinc smelters can similarly capture gallium during leaching, though this route contributes a smaller share of global output. In both cases, the host refinery must invest in dedicated extraction equipment, and the payoff depends on the gallium concentration in the specific ore body. A refinery working low-concentration bauxite may find the recovery economics marginal even with the equipment installed.

That constraint is why the country rankings look the way they do, and why they will be slow to change. A country cannot simply decide to produce more gallium. It has to have the aluminum or zinc industry to hang the extraction on, or it has to find waste streams like the Louisiana bauxite residue ponds that can be reprocessed. Everything else in the market, from export licensing in Beijing to demonstration grants in Louisiana, is a response to that underlying geology.

1
U.S. Geological Survey. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025 – Gallium
2
International Energy Agency. Announcement on the Implementation of Export Control of Items Related to Gallium and Germanium
3
U.S. Department of Defense. Department of Defense Awards $29.9 Million to Create a U.S. Domestic Supply of Gallium and Scandium
4
CSIRO. Critical Minerals: The Quiet Achievers Gallium and Germanium
5
European Commission. Critical Raw Materials
6
NICHIA Corporation. High-Purity Gallium
7
U.S. Geological Survey. Compilation of Gallium Resource Data for Bauxite Deposits