Rare earth supply exceeds demand

The vice president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the president of the China Rare Earth Industry Association, Gan Yong, said at the 6th "China Baotou Rare Earth Industry Forum" held here that, from the current reaction of the rare earth market, the development of the rare earth industry is still not optimistic. Since the second half of last year, the prices of some rare earth products have continued to fall. For example, the output of hafnium, tantalum and niobium accounts for about 70% of the total production of light rare earths. However, since last year, the prices of niobium, tantalum, and niobium oxide have fallen by 40%, indicating that the supply of rare earth remains More than demand, some products have a serious excess capacity.

Gan Yong said that since May 2011, the relevant Chinese authorities have strengthened rare earth mining permit systems and mining, smelting separation and total control management, as well as upgrading industry environmental standards, conducting environmental verification and access to rare earth industries, and publishing rare earth industry adjustment policies. Promote industry consolidation, crack down on illegal mining and smuggling, and made some progress in protecting rare earth resources and environment, adjusting industrial structure, promoting scientific and technological innovation, and standardizing rare earth production and operation order.

In addition, China's current rare earth export policy faces the challenges of the United States, the European Union, and Japan. On August 7, the World Trade Organization released the report of the Appellate Body of the United States, the European Union, Japan v. China's export control measures for rare earth, tungsten and molybdenum related products. The Appellate of the World Trade Organization maintains the panel’s decision that China’s export tariffs and export quotas for products involved in the case do not meet the WTO rules and China’s WTO accession.

"There is no doubt that if we remove the rare earth export quota, it will further increase China's difficulty in managing the rare earth industry." Gan Yong said.

The "mother of new materials" rare earth is widely used in cutting-edge technology. China is the world’s largest producer and supplier of rare earth resources. It supplies more than 90% of the world’s rare earth products for a long period of time, but it does not have the right to set prices for rare earth international markets. Because of the long-standing problems of rare earth industries in China, scattered, chaotic, and poor, The destruction of resources and ecological environment caused by the development and processing of rare earths is more serious.