rare earths prices

Rare Earths Price Index Hits All-Time Low – But Be Careful How You Slice It


The monthly Rare Earths MMI® slipped by one point, registering a value of 42 in April – a decrease of 2.3 percent from 43 in March.

Our rare earth price index continues as the worst performing MMI of all 10 MMI indexes.

“Like we have seen in previous months, we note that the entire Rare Earth index has not slid; rather, the slide comes down to a few key rare earth metals,” said Lisa Reisman, managing editor of MetalMiner.


“In particular, we see price weakness for yttria, samarium oxide, neodymium oxide, lanthanum oxide and europium oxide,” she continued.

The fact that that the price drops continue to impact only a handful of rare earth metals tells us to apply caution to any press or pundit statements slamming the entire sector. We see price weakness in specific metals based upon the supply and demand fundamentals for that particular metal, but other rare earth metal prices remain well-supported, indicating a market in greater balance.

So despite the index registering a value of 42, we shouldn’t draw general conclusions that all rare earth metal prices have declined.

Price Drivers of Rare Earths Index Drop

Following a 25.5 percent decline in price, yttria finished the month down hard. A 13.3 percent drop over the past month hit neodymium oxide. Lanthanum oxide prices dropped by 12.8 percent this month. Samarium oxide was down 9.5 percent for the month. After falling 6.8 percent, europium oxide finished the month down as well. Cerium oxide prices fell 6.0 percent. Praseodymium oxide prices decreased by 2.0 percent, and the value of praseodymium neodymium oxide weakened by 1.6 percent.

Terbium oxide, dysprosium oxide and yttrium, among others, remained constant this past month.

http://agmetalminer.com/2013/04/04/rare-earths-price-index-hits-all-time-low-but-be-careful-how-you-slice-it/