What is it?
A heavy metal that is, unusually, not very toxic — which is why it replaces lead in solders, plumbing brass and stomach medicine.
Why does it matter?
Bismuth demand grows every time a regulator restricts lead somewhere new.
Deeper written sections for this material have not been published yet. Everything below is drawn straight from the source datasets and is complete.
Who produces it
See it on a map →Refinery production
Refinery productionmetric tons 2025 (estimated) World total 16,000 metric tons
USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 · Refinery production; a by-product of lead and copper smelting. · source ↗
Scroll the table sideways for the remaining columns.
| Country | Production | Share of world |
|---|---|---|
| China | 14,000 | 87.5% |
| Korea, Republic of | 1,000 | 6.2% |
| Laos | 500.0 | 3.1% |
| Japan | 500.0 | 3.1% |
| Kazakhstan | 180.0 | 1.1% |
| Bolivia | 50.00 | 0.3% |
| Bulgaria | 50.00 | 0.3% |
| United States | Zero | — |
| World total | 16,000 | 100% |
“Withheld” means the USGS suppressed the figure to avoid disclosing an individual company's data — it does not mean zero. Country rows do not always sum to the world total because the source rounds each figure independently and does not always break out an “other countries” line.
Price
average, dollars per pound
Annual averagedollars per pound
Basis: average, dollars per pound. Annual averages as published in USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 · source ↗. These are reference annual averages, not a live market quote.
Export controls
| Country | Control | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| China | Export licensing requirement for materials and technologies | Antimony (2024), bismuth (2025), synthesized diamond (2025), gallium (2023), germanium (2023), graphite (2023), indium (2025), magnesium materials (2024), molybdenum (2025), rare earths (2025), silver (2026), tellurium (2025), tungsten (2025), and items related to lithium batteries and artificial graphite anode materials (2025). ↗ |
USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026, table 4 — controls in effect as of January 2026, excluding controls since lifted.