Ferro vanadium

Overview

Ferrovanadium (FeV) is an alloy of iron and vanadium used chiefly as an additive in steelmaking.¹ It is the main route by which vanadium reaches its largest market: metallurgical use, primarily as an alloying agent for iron and steel, accounted for more than 90% of reported US vanadium consumption in 2025.²

Vanadium pentoxide (V₂O₅) is the most widely produced vanadium oxide, and most V₂O₅ and vanadium trioxide is processed further into ferrovanadium.³ Ferrovanadium itself is not on the US or EU critical lists, but vanadium, its parent element, is on both.⁴⁵

How it is made

Ferrovanadium is sold in two broad grades. The 45–50% grade is produced by silicothermic reduction of V₂O₅ in slag or other vanadium-containing materials. Most of the 80% grade is produced by aluminothermic reduction of V₂O₅ in the presence of steel scrap, or by direct reduction in an electric arc furnace.³

The vanadium comes from two main types of source. Most world supply is a coproduct of steelmaking, recovered from vanadium-bearing slag when vanadiferous titanomagnetite ores are processed, or is mined as a primary product.³² World mine production was an estimated 110,000 t in 2025. China produced about 82,000 t, Russia 21,000 t, Brazil 5,300 t and South Africa 5,000 t.²

Secondary sources also matter. The United States has mined no vanadium since early 2020, but plants in Arkansas, Delaware, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas process petroleum residues, spent catalysts and utility ash into ferrovanadium, vanadium pentoxide, vanadium chemicals and specialty alloys.² Outside the main mining countries, converters such as a plant in Czechia make ferrovanadium from imported vanadium oxide.³

US imports of ferrovanadium came mainly from Canada and Austria in 2023.³

• Canada1,170 t · 51%
• Austria911 t · 40%
• Japan128 t · 6%
• Other countries66.9 t · 3%

Total as reported by USGS. Imports from Czechia were suppressed by the U.S. Census Bureau and are not included in the rows or the total. Other countries are Latvia (65.7 t) and South Africa (1.2 t). Source: 2023 Minerals Yearbook: Vanadium (advance release)

What it is used for

Ferrovanadium is used to introduce vanadium into steel to provide additional strength and toughness. In 2023 the United States consumed an estimated 4,700 t of vanadium in the form of ferrovanadium, 59% of its reported vanadium consumption.³ Like most ferroalloys, vanadium demand largely follows the steel industry, and particularly the Chinese steel sector.²

Vanadium's other uses rely on different products. The main nonmetallurgical use is in catalysts for maleic anhydride and sulfuric acid, which are made from vanadium chemicals, and vanadium redox flow batteries use a liquid vanadium electrolyte.²³ Aluminum-vanadium master alloy, rather than ferrovanadium, is the main master alloy of the vanadium industry.²

Grades and forms

Ferrovanadium grades are named by their approximate vanadium content. The US market commonly references the 78–82% vanadium grade.³ Vanadium is also supplied to steelmakers as vanadium carbon nitride, a separate steel-alloying product.³

Trade and policy

The United States imported ferrovanadium mainly from Canada (50%), Austria (35%), Russia (6%) and Latvia (4%) in 2021–24.² Ferrovanadium is classified under subheading 7202.92, with a US general duty rate of 4.2%.⁶

US anti-dumping orders on ferrovanadium from China and South Africa have been in place since 2003:

The orders cover all ferrovanadium regardless of grade, form or size. They exclude other vanadium additives such as nitrided vanadium, vanadium-aluminum master alloys, vanadium chemicals and oxides, waste and scrap, and vanadium-bearing slag, residues and fly ash.¹

This section is factual background, not legal or trade-compliance advice.

Recycling and substitution

Vanadium recycling is mainly the reprocessing of spent vanadium catalysts into new catalysts.² Spent catalysts and other residues are also a feedstock for US ferrovanadium production.²

In steel, manganese, molybdenum, niobium, titanium and tungsten are to some degree interchangeable with vanadium, and steels with other combinations of alloying elements can replace vanadium-bearing steels.²

Sources

1. Ferrovanadium From the People's Republic of China and the Republic of South Africa: Continuation of Antidumping Duty Orders (91 FR 11037). Federal Register (U.S. Department of Commerce), accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

2. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Vanadium. U.S. Geological Survey, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹

3. 2023 Minerals Yearbook: Vanadium (advance release). U.S. Geological Survey, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

4. Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals (90 FR 50494). Federal Register (U.S. Geological Survey), accessed 2026-10-03. ↩

5. Critical raw materials. European Commission, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩

6. Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States: heading 7202 (ferroalloys). U.S. International Trade Commission, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩