China Set To Define Future Market For Rare Earth Metals

By Author: Samantha Dale
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China, the world's largest supplier of rare earth, may almost double exports this year, meeting quotas set by the government as lower prices continue to stimulate demand.

Its rare earth industry has an output capacity of approximately 200,000 tons, Chen Zhanheng, a researcher at the Chinese Society of Rare Earths, wrote in a commentary last year.

According to the Ministry of Commerce, Chinese exports were 49 percent of the government-allotted quota in the first eleven months of last year as a result of a slowing global economy sapping demand.

"Export quotas may be met this year as overseas demand recovers," said Wang Caifeng, a former official overseeing the rare earth industry with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, in an interview last week.

Signs of this ramp up were evident this week when Jiangxi Copper Co. (HKG:0358), China's largest producer of the industrial metal, announced that it planned to accelerate development of rare earth at a project in the Southwestern Sichuan province to meet export demand.

"Output of rare earth oxide at the Mianning mine will eventually ...
... reach 50,000 metric tons a year," said Chairman Li Yihuang, without providing a set timeframe.

"When the project is completed, Jiangxi Copper will be among the country's three largest rare earth producers."

Despite moves such as these from industry giants, uncertainty within certain factions of the investment community remains. This speculation stems from data compiled by Shanghai SteelHome, which shows that rare earth prices tumbled last year as consumers reduced overall use. The average price of lanthanum oxide, a rare earth used in rechargeable batteries and refining catalysts, was $20,500 a ton in the fourth quarter of last year – a dip of 15 percent on third quarter figures.
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