How Many Years of Supply Life Are Left for Commodities?

In just five years, the world has reduced the supply life of rare earth metals by nearly 300 years.

This graphic is the first of three graphics in the Investing in Commodities series. It shows how the supply life of different critical commodities has changed between 2020-2025 using data from the USGS, OPEC, and NEA.

Rare earth metals recorded the biggest change between 2020 and 2025. Their estimated supply life fell from 500 years to 218 years, a drop of 282 years.

For uranium, the 2020 and 2025 values are estimated from 2021 and 2023 NEA data points.

Lithium supply life declined by an estimated 127 years, while uranium had a smaller drop of 31 years. These drops matter for electric vehicles, wind turbines, and defense technologies that all rely on steady rare earths  and other critical minerals.

The sharpest supply-life shifts centered on critical minerals, not legacy commodities. Cobalt is the lone critical mineral with moderate change, having a decline of 11 years.

For legacy commodities, oil had a modest reduction of 4 years while the precious metals, silver and gold, saw slight increases in supply while others stayed essentially flat.

For investors, shrinking supply life can signal how demand growth may collide with limited resource availability. It can also highlight geopolitical considerations when supply remains heavily concentrated in just a handful of countries.

Commodity ETFs can offer diversified access without requiring investors to select individual producers. As electrification, energy security, and defense demand evolve, Global X Canada’s offer access to a range of long-term resource related sectors.

To learn more, explore the Global X All-In-One Commodity Producers Equity ETF (COMX), which provides diversified exposure across precious metals, energy, and base metals producers within a single strategy.

See how COMX offers diversified access across multiple commodity producer segments

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