ruthenium
Critical · 2 lists

Ruthenium · Ru

PGM · byproduct

USGS_2022
USGS_2025
Ruthenium is a minor platinum-group metal, co-produced with platinum and palladium - reserves and some demand are reported only at the group level. See Platinum for group-level supply data.

Ruthenium sits on 2 federal critical-minerals lists; mine supply is highly concentrated (HHI 0.87, 2021), led by 🇿🇦 South Africa at 93% of output. Prices rose 53% over the past year (+5%/yr over 4y).

Headline indicators

690dollars per troy ounce

USGS MCS (Ruthenium)

+53% 1Y

+5%/yr · 4Y CAGR

0.87

Highly concentrated · 2021

lifecycle flow

  1. 01Reserves

    -

    Reported at PGM group level

  2. 02Production

    33,741kilograms

    South Africa top · 2021

  3. 03Trade

    14,000kilograms

    net importer · 2025

  4. 04Stocks

    -

  5. 05Consumption

    17,635.7kilograms

    Chemical · 2025

Data coverage notes

  • group-levelRuthenium: reserves reported only at the PGM group level - USGS MCS publishes reserves for the platinum-group metals as a single aggregate (world total >76,000,000 kg PGM in 2025; South Africa 63,000,000 kg), with no per-metal split. The empty reserves table reflects the source's reporting grain, not missing coverage.
  • no dataNo commodity-decomposed recycling data - No USGS MCS Fig13 scrap rows. EU WEEE / battery EOL flows (Phase 6.1.1) are country-keyed only - see country profiles.
  • datedMaterial-flow analysis is historical - All 11 material-flow records date to 2010 or earlier (Yale STAF era). They describe the anthropogenic cycle of that period, not today's system.
  • datedEnvironmental footprint is dated - Cradle-to-gate intensity rows carry a 2008 inventory vintage (Nuss & Eckelman-era LCA). Current-process footprints are not yet in scope.
  • datedExport-restriction inventory ends 2020 - The OECD industrial-raw-materials inventory (vendored snapshot) reports HS-line measures only through 2020; restrictions enacted since are not reflected in the measure table.
  • narrowConsumption geography is single-economy (World) - Reported consumption covers one economy only - the world usage split must be read from trade flows, not from a consumption table.

How strata reads a commodity

The eight-stage lens, the observed-vs-estimated membrane, stage-honest supply, per-stage concentration, ownership resolution and the demand lens - the full method is illustrated live on copper, nickel and lithium.

Read the methodology, illustrated live →

Where this data comes from

8 sources · titles open the source card · url opens the publisher