5. Production and recycling

Few countries are indium producers or operators, which poses a geopolitical risk if primary indium production ceases. Moreover, this metal is considered to be of strategic importance, and data concerning it vary from one source to another. Nevertheless, although world production has increased by an average factor of between 1.4 and 1.6 in 6 years (table 6 ), the market is becoming increasingly unbalanced, as demand has more than doubled, particularly for ITO, and forecasts for 2007 point to a negative balance of between 248 and 324 t.