Within 3 minutes after the opening of the market at the 85th High-Tech auction by the China Northern Rare Earth (Group), the four targets of 20 tons of neodymium praseodymium all reached the alarm price and were sold at a price of 930,000 yuan ($145,452) per ton, according to Baotou Rare Earth Products Exchange on Thursday. This price has broken a 10-year high record.At the same time, the profitability of rare earth companies has also greatly improved. China Minmetals Rare Earth stated in a recent announcement that the company's 2021 operating revenue target is 2.7 billion yuan ($422 million), an increase of about 63 percent from 2020 operating revenue of 1.66 billion yuan ($250 million). Industry insiders said that the recent price increase was caused by the two-pronged effect on supply and demand. However, the effects on supply are more obvious.The trade manager of a domestic rare earth company told the Global Times on Thursday that the price jump is the result of high market demand and short supplies."All the bulk commodities are rising substantially in recent months and rare earth certainly is not exception," he said. QUOTE ARR entering the market as prices rise IMO from globaltimes.cn
