Competition in the international niobium market: A residual demand approach

Abstract Niobium is a highly strategic mineral, of which Brazil holds almost all the world's reserves, followed by Canada. This study investigates the prevailing market power for niobium at the country level by using the residual demand approach suggested by Goldberg and Knetter (1999). The empirical evidence on the US and European Union (EU) destination markets, indicates a significant and similar market power for Brazil and yet a non-negligible intra-block trade that might play some role in the EU destination market. Moreover, some complementarity patterns are detected in connection to ferrovanadium alloys.