钽作为小金属的一种，应用领域非常广泛，电容器是钽主要的应用领域，全球约一半的钽用在电容器中。
《2011年全球及中国钽行业研究报告》主要从以下几个方面研究整个钽行业的发展状况：● 全球钽矿储量、产量、价格及在建/扩建项目情况；
● 中国钽行业发展现状、进出口、价格及重点应用领域分析；
● 中国钽电容器市场及下游消费领域分析；
● 全球2家重点钽生产企业以及7家主要国内钽及钽矿生产企业分析。
2010年全球钽矿产量805吨，巴西是最大的钽矿生产国，产量占比22.4%。中国的钽精矿产量较小，仅占全球总产量的8%左右，中国消耗的钽原料80%依赖进口，因此国内钽加工厂商多数受制于海外原料供给的不确定性。
东方钽业，作为全球主要的钽生产商之一，电容器级钽粉的全球市场占有率25%以上，电容器用钽丝全球市场占有率60%以上。公司钽原料的对外依存度非常高，除了参股20%的福建南平钽铌矿，其余基本依靠外购。东方钽业在国内与最大矿山江西宜春钽铌长期合作，国外与南美大型钽铌矿山签订长期合同为主，非洲小规模钽铌矿山的现货供应为补充。
总体来讲，东方钽业原料来源基本有保障，但是由于本身没有矿山，成本难以控制，原料下跌时需要承受较大跌价风险，譬如2009年公司钽制品的毛利率仅13.9%。
图：2006-2011年东方钽业钽制品毛利率
目前，产业链优势比较突出的是澳大利亚的GAM公司，公司主要从事钽矿的开采，2011年8月宣布收购全球钽冶炼领域的龙头企业美国Cabot公司的钽加工厂。
本报告在重点分析全球及中国钽矿储量及重点企业的同时，也对中国钽电解电容器行业进行了分析。钽电解电容器是非常重要的电子元件，主要应用在手机（35%）、数码相机（34%）、笔记本电脑（16%）上。电子产品更新换代周期短的特点将会刺激钽电容器的消费。
As a kind of minor metal, tantalum finds very wide application. About half of the world’s tantalum resources are applied in capacitor.
The report highlights the following aspects: 
reserves, output and price of tantalum ore worldwide; ongoing and expansion projects;
status quo of China tantalum industry, import & export, price and key applications;
Chinese tantalum capacitor market and downstream consumption filed;
two world’s leading tantalum manufacturers and seven major China-based tantalum and ore producers;
In 2010, the global output of tantalum ores reached 805 tons. In particular, the output of Brazil, as the world’s largest tantalum ore producer, accounted for 22.4% of the world’s total; while China had low output of tantalum concentrates, making up no more than 8% of the global total. As China imports 80% tantalum raw materials to meet its consumption, domestic tantalum processing businesses are mostly restricted by the uncertainty of raw material supply from overseas market.
For Ningxia Orient Tantalum Industry, as one of the leading tantalum manufacturers in the world, the global market occupancy of capacitor-grade tantalum powder exceeds 25%, while that of capacitor tantalum wire surpasses 60%. Ningxia Orient Tantalum Industry is almost fully reliant on the external purchase to meet its demand for tantalum raw materials, if the 20% contributed by the joint-stock project Ta-Nb mine in Nanping, Fujian province is excluded. Ningxia Orient Tantalum Industry establishes long-term cooperative relationship with Yichun Tantalum & Niobium Mine, the largest mine in China; also, it inked long-term deal with the large Ta-Nb mine in South America, and with Africa-based small-sized Ta-Nb mine as supplement of spot supplies.
Generally speaking, the raw material source of Ningxia Orient Tantalum Industry can be primarily guaranteed. However, due to the fact that the company doesn’t possess its own mines, it is hard to keep the cost under control. As a result, it was forced to bear high risk in case of the short supply of raw materials. For example, the gross margin from the tantalum product business of the company in 2009 was just 13.9%.
Gross Margin of Tantalum Products of Ningxia Orient Tantalum Industry, 2006-2011
Presently, the Australia-based GAM features more competitive industry chain. GAM involving in the exploitation of tantalum ore announced in August 2011 to take over the tantalum processing plant under America-based Cabot, an international tycoon in the tantalum smelting field.
The report sheds lights on the tantalum ore reserves and key companies in China and beyond. Also it analyzes the tantalum electrolytic capacitor industry of China. As a very important component, tantalum electrolytic capacitor is commonly used in mobile phone (35%), digital camera (34%) and notebook computer (16%). The short renewal cycle of electronic products is bound to spur the consumption of tantalum capacitor.