Producers of molybdenum, a mineral used to strengthen certain types of high-end steel, say explosive Chinese growth over the next 15 years will bring tightness back to a market that's currently struggling with the global recession.

However, industry players say it's unlikely moly prices will return in the foreseeable future to highs like the US$25 to $35 per pound range that was common before the global economy sank last fall.

Norman Ting, managing director of metal-trader Wogen Pacific Ltd., predicted Chinese demand will send moly prices - which have already climbed from lows of approximately $8 per pound to above $12 per pound - to between $18 and $19 a pound.

However, he cautioned that the rising price will push many profit-takers to sell their moly assets, leading to volatility in the near term.

"Overall I say there will be some volatility in the moly market but once the market makes an adjustment, a correction, I think that the demand will still make sure the price will continue to go up," Ting said Tuesday at a molybdenum conference hosted by Desjardins Securities.

North American demand for the mineral used to produce alloyed steel and high-end stainless steel will likely remain weak in the short-term as economic uncertainty continues to hurt the construction, hydrocarbon and automotive industries that rely on moly-strengthened steel.

This is why Chinese demand is so important to the global moly market, said Derek Fisher, CEO of Moly Mines Ltd. (TSX:MOL), an Australian company whose main asset is the Spinifex Ridge molybdenum and copper line in Western Australia.

Fisher said China's population is expected to grow by 300 million in the next 10 to 15 years, and one billion Chinese will live in cities by 2025. To fuel that growth, it's expected that 170 mass transit systems, 40 billion square metres of floor space and 50,000 skyscrapers - the equivalent of 10 New Yorks - will be built in China over the next 15 years.

"China will never source the metal for all that development internally. It's got to go elsewhere," he said.

"If I had the money I'd be going out there and buying up every undeveloped, sub-economic resource in the world I could lay my hands on. This is going to drive metal prices into the future in an extraordinary way."

Although China has 30 per cent of the world's molybdenum resources, it won't be able to keep up with demand internally, agreed Ting.

"Fundamentally I think China's lack of moly resources and the demand for stainless steel is still fairly healthy, so it will continue to grow for some time to come," he said.

Molybdenum is used as an alloy and anti-corrosion agent in  stainless steel l and has other industrial uses. Like other specialty minerals, demand has been hurt by the slump in the steel sector caused by the worldwide recession, which has reduced demand from the auto, appliance, construction and capital goods industries.