SANTIAGO, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Prices for molybdenum, the metal that had appeared resistant to a global economic slowdown, will now limp through 2009, holding near $10 per lb after crashing in the past two months, an industry executive said Friday.

John Graell, chief executive at global molybdenum processor Molymet of Chile, said demand for the metal, which is used to harden steel and make it more shiny, would fall 20 percent next year amid global financial turmoil.

"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," 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.

Molybdenum, the metal used to add strength and shine to specialty steels, is one of the few industrial metals that had resisted the general commodities price retreat since August. Analysts said it was shielded more than other base metals because it is a key component to much of China's long-term development plans, which are steel intensive.

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. Graell said Molymet, one of the world's top processors of molybdenum, was maintaining its expansion plans around the world, and said lean times might be viewed as an opportunity.

"We are super active in looking out for new opportunities (for expansion). We are watching China, although of course in these turbulent times we have to be vigilant...prudence is a priority."

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