Rare earth mineral exports sees drop in first 10 months

(chinadaily.com.cn)

Updated: 2014-12-11

A report from the Association of China Rare Earth Industry showed that rare earth exports from the Inner Mongolia autonomous region dropped 26.6 percent year-on-year to 3,137 tons in the first 10 months of 2014. The average export price during this period also witnessed a decrease as it hit 47,000 yuan ($7,609.49) per ton, a drop of 27.7 percent compared with the same period last year.

The report said that the diversified global rare earth supply was the major cause of the sharp drop in rare earth export prices.

"Other sources of rare earth minerals in the world restarted rare earth export and smelting one after another," the report explained. The production capacity of 2013 was 55,000 tons for the world’s 429 rare earth projects located in 37 countries and regions, and the output is expected to be 170,000 tons in 2015.

The report also pointed out that practices such as illegal exploration and production without a clear plan and definite targets was taking place in the rare earth industry. Market orders and legal enterprise profits were impacted by illegal exploration and illegal industrial chain.

Edited by Michael Thai