If these rumours are proven true, REE pricing is going to...

If these rumours are proven true, REE pricing is going to explode over the next 6 months... (from Metal-Pages.com - you need a subscription).


Japanese rare earth consumers squeezed by Chinese export controls
TALLINN (Metal-Pages) 26-Apr-07. Increasing restrictions on the export of rare earth materials from China could seriously undermine the consumption of rare earths in the Japanese market, Shigeo Nakamura of Advanced Material Japan Corp told delegates at the International Minor Metals Conference in Tallinn, today.

Rare earths are used in a wide range of essential applications including miniaturised electronics, nickel hydrogen batteries, fluorescent materials, magnets, computer disk drives, display screens, missile guidance and pollution control catalysts.

The growth in demand from these sectors and in particular for hybrid electric vehicles is set to see Japanese demand for rare earths increase significantly over the next few years.

Material Consumption 2007 mt Consumption 2020 mt
NdFeB 18,000 28,000
Magnets 10,800 17,000
Nd metal 5,400 8,400
Dy 500 800
Tb 45 50


This growth, however, could be thwarted as Chinese restrictions on rare earth exports result in it becoming increasingly difficult to source material from China. China has sought to conserve its raw materials and to shift to producing value added products by the imposition of a variety of restrictions including the reduction of export quotas by 10% per annum since 2003, the abolition of the17% export tax rebate which has been replaced by a 10% export duty and the cancellation of toll processing since 2006. In addition rumours circulating in China suggest that there could be an outright ban imposed on six rare earth elements later in the year, the elements rumoured to be subject to the export ban are: dysprosium, europium, terbium, lutetium, ytterbium and thulium.

With China accounting for 85% of the world’s rare earth production there has been some serious head scratching in Japan as to how to cope with the situation. One solution would be to shift the consumption of rare earths from Japan to China, Toyota and Honda already have factories in China consuming rare earths for the motor industry and Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba and Hitachi have production for home electronics. Other solutions are being searched for as the Japanese and Chinese governments have held meetings to try to resolve this situation. Japanese consumers on their part are also looking hard at increasing the levels of recycling and at other non-Chinese sources of rare earths. Furthermore they are also looking at the possibility of sourcing rare earths from outside of China including the possibility of re-opening the Mountain Pass rare earth mine in California, which closed in 2002 for both environmental and economic reasons.