“China Customs has recently released rare earth element data regarding both imports and exports for August 2015 as can be seen here.
In August, China exported 2,828 tons of rare earths, up 20.19% year on year and down 22.7% month on month. For the first eight months of 2015, China exported about 20,366 tons of rare earth elements, up 11.6% year on year.
The Association of China Rare Earth Industry, ACREI, a Chinese industry group that coordinates pricing with foreign buyers, was supposed to give China price stability and some control over where those prices are. However, ACREI released a monthly market analysis report on Last September 07, reporting that the price of dysprosium oxide and terbium oxide further dropped 10.02% and 14.52% in the domestic market in August alone. From June to August, the same oxides prices on average have slumped 20.04% and 24.45%, respectively. ACREI has yet to point out that most of China’s major rare earth smelters are running at a loss recently and have halted production.
As a result of this loss of control, China’s Dysprosium and Terbium exports were the most interesting figure in July.
According to Chinese customs statistics, with an average price of US$251.7 per kilogram, Dysprosium oxide shipments skyrocketed about 2,344% to 28,107 kilograms in July alone, from a month earlier of 1,150 kilogram. July’s Terbium oxide exports on average, at US$542.45 per kilogram, also reached 5,300 kilogram, and the volume of monthly exports was the highest level in more than four years.
It is obvious that the exports are exceeding the quotas. The main reason for this skyrocket in exports is that illegal rare earth elements are still flooding the market, which is also driving the collapse in Dysprosium and Terbium prices. Beijing has lost control of the upstream market. I believe that the soaring exports in dysprosium and terbium have been Chinese policymakers’ biggest headache, and reflects in part China’s rare earth industrial policy dilemma.”
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