china loses export appeal wto, page-2

rare earths not part of monday ruling,


GENEVA (Reuters) - China lost an appeal at the World Trade Organization on Monday in a case about its export restrictions on raw materials, a ruling that could make it harder for major commodity exporters to withhold supplies on the global market.

In a statement, China's Ministry of Commerce said it "deeply regrets" the decision but would abide by the ruling, although it considered it had acted legitimately.

The United States, European Union and Mexico had all launched WTO legal cases in 2009, challenging China's right to restrict exports of materials including bauxite, coke, magnesium, manganese, and zinc.

Many countries also later accused China of choking off global supplies of rare earth metals, causing prices to rocket for crucial ingredients in many high tech products, but rare earths were not part of Monday's ruling

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/world/12766013/china-loses-wto-appeal-on-export-restrictions/