Good point Galliumaslan, there is a variety of applications for...

Good point Galliumaslan, there is a variety of applications for Niobium that we are never likely to appreciate.

The point I was trying to make, is at present it seems that demand is balanced by supply and the primary source of demand is from steel production. The largest consumer of steel is built environment, the steel in your house say reinforcing, beams, plate nails is mild steel (G300/G350) this isn't a high strength alloy. Whilst some steel for structural applications does include Niobium it is less common. At least I am not aware of any AUS / NZ mills producing steel with Niobium additions.

The same applies with stainless steel, yes some stainless has Niobium they are unique grades which aren't standard issue for most conventional applications.

Perhaps this is changing based on what Zappa mentions above.