3-Hydroxy-2-[1'-phenyl-3'-(p-chlorophenyl)-4'-pyrazolyl]-4-oxo-4H-1benzopyran (HPCPB) is used as an analytical reagent for the spectrophotometric determination of niobium in trace amounts with which it forms a yellow coloured complex (4:1) in perchloric acid medium. The complex is extractable into chloroform and shows absorption maximum at 407-418 nm with a molar absorptivity of 2.79 x 10(4) L mol(-1) cm(-1) and Sandell's sensitivity equal to 0.0033 microg Nb(V) cm(-2), respectively. Beer's law holds good in the range 0-1.2 microg Nb ml(-1), with a standard deviation of +/- 0.0015 absorbance units. The method is free from the interference of a large number of elements and handles satisfactorily the analysis of various samples of varying complexity.