"Molybdenum will fall 21.8 per cent to average $20 a pound this year, according to Ana Zúñiga, director of studies at Chile’s state copper commission Cochilco. Chile is one of the world’s biggest producers of molybdenum, which traded at $24 a pound on Tuesday.

Cochilco expects molybdenum prices to remain stable throughout the year with price support coming from special steels production growth in China, even though the market is expected to return to a deficit again of almost 4,000 tonnes.

World molybdenum production is forecast to grow 2.0 percent to 189,009 tonnes in 2007 with a 19.6 percent increase in China’s production (to 43,869 tonnes) and 17.3 percent increase in Canada’s production (to 13,328 tonnes) more than offsetting the forecast 11.8 percent fall in Chile’s production (to 38,044 tonnes)."

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