MATERIALSDECODED
Magnesium · Country-wise

Magnesium by Country: China Makes What Everyone Could

China produces roughly 86 percent of world magnesium, not from unique geology, but from cost-competitive capacity the rest of the world let lapse.

Simple World MapAuthor: Al MacDonald Editor: Fritz Lekschas License: CC BY-SA 3.0 ID: ISO 3166-1 or "_[a-zA-Z]" if an ISO code is not available
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Every country on this map has access to comparable feedstock, dolomite, brine, or both. The gap is capacity, not geology.
China
950 kt
Russia
60 kt
Brazil
20 kt
Israel
20 kt
Turkey
15 kt
Kazakhstan
13 kt
Iran
5 kt
Production by country, 2024. Reserve estimates, led by China at roughly 1,480 kt, broadly track the same pattern, unlike lithium's Bolivia-Australia mismatch covered on lithium's country page.

No Bolivia-style paradox here

Unlike lithium, where the largest reserve holder barely produces, covered on lithium’s own country page, magnesium’s reserve ranking and production ranking point to the same country. This reinforces that magnesium’s concentration genuinely is a capacity story, not a case of an under-exploited resource waiting in a country with other constraints.

Sources: production and reserve figures reference this project’s own verified production data (USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025).