Chile Molymet sees molybdenum around $10/lb in 2009

SANTIAGO, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Chile's Molymet MOL.SN, one of the world's top processors of molybdenum concentrates, on Friday forecast the price of the metal used to harden steel would remain around $10 per lb in 2009, and that demand would fall 20 percent next year.

"When it rains, everything gets wet. There is a significant impact on molybdenum consumption and we have started to feel it in the final quarter of this year and will do all next year," Molymet CEO John Graell told Reuters at a seminar in the Chilean capital, Santiago.

"We are forecasting a significant fall in molybdenum consumption, and we'll probably see it in terms of prices," he added. Molybdenum was trading at over $30 a lb in October, and has sunk sharply in tandem with copper and other commodities on demand fears amid global financial crisis.

Molymet is a major player in global molybdenum and rhenium markets, with production facilities in Chile, Mexico, Germany and Belgium. Chile is the world's No. 2 producer of molybdenum, which is extracted along with its main export copper. (Reporting by Antonio de la Jara and Pav Jordan; Editing by John Picinich)