Reuters reported that Thompson Creek Metals Co Inc looks for pent up demand or the rebound effect to cause global demand for molybdenum to grow faster in 2010 than the usual 4% to 5% pace.

Mr Kevin Loughrey CEO of Thompson Creek said that the molybdenum market has been growing at a 4% to 5% rate historically, and it could grow faster than that this year, because there is some rebound effect.
Though actual numbers are hard to come by for the global molybdenum market, Thompson Creek estimates 2009 demand declined to about 420 million pounds.

Mr Loughrey said that "It's a little easier to get that growth if demand comes back. A rough estimate would be a 450 million pounds market, but no one really knows. The trend line seems to be gently upward, albeit with significant ups and downs. But the overall price trend is escalating upwards. And we think that is consistent with supply and demand fundamentals."

He said that the latest price increase was coming from increased demand amid a lack of ready material. He added that "Over the past several weeks, as demand is growing, not hugely, but on a regular basis, there is not a lot of moly to answer to that demand. That's caused the price to move up fairly substantially in the last few weeks."

Asked about Thompson Creek's orders, Mr Loughrey said the company was sold out with no material currently on hand. He added that "We're pretty much sold out. Not as much as 6 months out, but we would have a hard time filling an order today."

(Sourced from www.reuters.com)