rare earth export – CRI Report

Research Report on China’s Rare Earth Industry, 2019-2023

admin — Wed, 22 May 2019 07:01:15 +0000

Description
Rare earth elements and metals are widely used in the industry. Rare earth elements are essential to aircraft engines, mobile phones and drill bits for oil and natural gas mining. As new energy vehicles are expected to replace traditional fuel vehicles, both military and civilian industries have robust demand for rare earths.
According to CRI, in 2017, China produced more than 80% of rare earth metals and compounds in the world. China’s rare earth exports to the United States accounted for 78% of U.S. rare earth imports while the rare earths from Estonia, France and Japan only accounted for 14% in total. In 2017, the United States imported more than 17,000 tons of rare earth compounds, of which 10,000 tons of lanthanum compounds and 3,600 tons of cerium compounds were from China.
According to CRI, driven by low mining costs (including low labor costs) and low environmental protection costs, in the 1990s, Chinese enterprises started mining and exporting rare earths on a large scale. Consequently, most other countries stopped mining rare earths. In the past decade, China’s rare earth reserves fell sharply. Its proportion in the global rare earth reserves once exceeded 70% while at the end of 2016, the proportion was only 37%. From 1998 to 2015, the Chinese government introduced export quota licensing system for rare earths. On Mar. 26, 2014, the WTO ruled that China’s administrative measures for rare earth exports breached WTO rules. On May 1, 2015, the Chinese government canceled its tariffs on rare earth exports. On Jan. 1, 2016, it abolished the export quota licensing system.
To regulate rare earth mining, in the second half of 2018, the Chinese government began to shut down illegal mining enterprises and cut rare earth production quota to 45,000 tons, down 36% from 70,000 tons in the first half of the year. To upgrade its rare earth industry, China shifts from exporting crude ores to exporting oxide products, which greatly impacts the global rare earth market.
After China Minmetals Rare Earth (Ganzhou) Co., Ltd. and CHALCO Guangxi Branch stopped producing rare earth ores because they failed to meet environmental protection standards, ionic rare earth ores fell short of demand in southern China. Subsequently, Chinese mining investors mined ionic rare earth ores in Myanmar and Vietnam and exported the mined crude ores to China for refining. However, in early Nov. 2018, all levels of government in Myanmar prohibited the rare earth mining activities of Chinese enterprises because of uneven distribution of benefits. In response, China’s Yunnan Customs announced that it would ban all mineral imports from Myanmar. If the policy is strictly implemented, the prices of heavy rare earths such as dysprosium and terbium will increase on the global market. But it is uncertain that how long the import restriction will last and how it will affect the volume of China’s heavy rare earth imports.
China has been the world’s largest exporter of rare earths for years. In 2018, China’s rare earth exports increased to 53,031 tons by 3.60% YOY, making China the world’s largest importer of rare earths.
In 2018, China’s rare earth oxide imports reached about 41,400 tons, increasing by over 100% YOY. Meanwhile, the domestic production of rare earth oxides shrank as China combated illegal rare earth production. China’s rare earth imports are mainly minerals and chemical concentrates from Myanmar and the United States. In 2018, China imported about 26,000 tons of rare earth carbonates from Myanmar, which accounted for about 25% domestic demand. The heavy rare earths from Myanmar accounted for nearly one third of domestic consumption.
U.S. enterprises ship lanthanum-rich ores to China and then buy oxides and chemical products from China. The United States is the major buyer of China’s rare earths, and lanthanum is used to refine oil. Last year, Myanmar became a key supplier of the dysprosium, terbium and gadolinium to Chinese producers of magnets and alloys. In 2018, the United States announced import tariffs on China’s rare earths in its trade frictions with China but later it withdrew this decision. In the long term, China’s rare earth imports will continue to grow. In addition to the United States and Myanmar, Australia is also exporting rare earths to China.
In 2018, the production volume of neodymium-iron-boron permanent magnets in China increased by 5% and the consumption increased by about 6%. The supply and demand on domestic market were close to balance. The export volume and export value increased by 11% and 14% respectively.
In 2018, China only approved 115,000 tons of rare earth production quota, giving priority to meeting domestic demand. As a result, the global production of primary rare earth oxides grew by 20.80%. The growth was mainly attributable to the United States and Myanmar. On the other hand, since China started combating illegal rare earth mining in Sept. 2018, illegal rare earth production decreased by 50%. The consequent market gap is filled by other countries. The concentrate imports from Myanmar have become an important source of the dysprosium, terbium and gadolinium for China’s magnet and alloy manufacturing industries.
According to CRI, in China, the mining and refining of rare earths are monopolized by six major state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Non-SOEs only have access to downstream industries such as the production and application of rare earth materials, namely, permanent magnet materials, catalytic materials, luminescent materials, polishing materials and hydrogen storage materials. With the rapid development of global high-tech industries, rare earths are being applied to more high-tech fields and the consumption of rare earth new materials are growing rapidly. The new energy vehicle industry, the wind power industry and other consumers of rare earths all have a promising future, which promotes the development of the rare earth industry. For example, in 2018, the global production of new energy vehicles exceeded 2 million units, among which 1.27 million units were produced in China, up by about 60% YOY. Rare earth hydrogen storage alloys are mainly used in NiMH power batteries. A hybrid electric vehicle needs about 10 kg of hydrogen storage alloy. In general, a hydrogen storage alloy contains 30% mischmetal, which means that a hybrid electric vehicle consumes about 3 kg of rare earths. The drive motor of a hybrid electric vehicle consumes about 1 kg to 3 kg of neodymium-iron-boron magnetic materials; the drive motor of a battery electric vehicle consumes about 5 kg to 10 kg.
According to the plan of the Chinese government, the annual production of new energy vehicles in China will reach 6 million units in 2023. If this goal can be achieved, new energy vehicles will consume 30,000 tons of rare earths or more, which will boost the development of China’s rare earth industry.
According to CRI, the Sino-U.S. trade war has little impact on China’s rare earth industry. For example, in May 2019, the United States again decided not to impose import tariffs on China’s rare earths and other key minerals. It shows that United States still relies heavily on China’s minerals to produce consumer electronics, military equipment and many other products.

Topics Covered:
– Global supply of and demand for rare earths
– Global trade of rare earths
– Chinese government’s policies on rare earths
– Rare earth production in China
– Demand for rare earths in China
– China’s rare earth imports and exports
– Price trends of rare earth and rare earth materials in China
– Major rare earth mining and refining enterprises in China
– Major producers of rare earth materials in China
– Driving forces and market opportunities for China’s rare earth industry from 2019 to 2023
– Forecast on supply of and demand for rare earth in China from 2019 to 2023
– Impact of the Sino-U.S. Trade War on China’s rare earth industry

The post Research Report on China’s Rare Earth Industry, 2019-2023 first appeared on CRI Report.

Research Report on Rare Earth Industry in China, 2011-2020

admin — Fri, 17 Aug 2018 09:07:53 +0000

Description

China’s rare earth resources are featured with rich natural resources, abundant types and wide distribution. Rare earth elements consist of 15 elements of the lanthanide series as well as scandium and yttrium, a total of 17 elements in the periodic table of elements. Rare earth elements can be divided into the light one, the medium one and the heavy one by their atomic weight, physical and chemical properties. Rare earth mines in Baotou, Inner Mongolia and Liangshan, Sichuan Province, mainly contain four kinds of light rare earth such as lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium and neodymium, which represents China’s light rare earth. Rare earth mines in Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province and Longyan, Fujian Province are the representatives of the medium and heavy rare earth.

With the advantage of the low cost of China’s rare earth mining such as lower labor costs and less environmental protection, Chinese enterprises have started the large-scale exploitation of rare earth and export since the 1990s. Therefore, China’s cheap rare earth occupied the global market, and most countries in the world stopped the exploitation of rare earth. China’s reserves of rare earth once accounted for 71.1% of the global reserves while the percentage declined to 40% in 2015.

China launched the rare earth export quota license system in 1998. In recent years, Chinese government has attempted to decrease the amount of export enterprises and quotas as well as the annual exploitation of rare earth mines. For example, the rare earth export quota set by Ministry of Commerce of China for domestic enterprises declined from 50,000 tons in 2005 to 21,590 tons in 2014. Decrease in export quotas results in the increasing amount of smuggling.

On Mar. 26, 2014, the WTO released the panel report concerning the case of European Union, the U.S. and Japan against the export management measures of China’s rare earth, tungsten, molybdenum and other related products. The export management measures of Chinese products involved in the case were judged as infraction. Tariffs on export of rare earth was abolished on May 1, 2015. Rare earth export quota system came to an end on Jan. 1, 2016. Before the cancellation of export quota, quite a few Chinese rare earth enterprises had no access to export quota, and smuggling became their main means of export. In spite of multiple regulations of Chinese government, it was difficult to eliminate the smuggling. With the abolishment of export quota and export tariff, the rare earth export license can be obtained as long as one provides the contract of sales, to a certain extent, which will help curb the smuggling of rare earth.

However there is still the total exploitation control index system of rare earth mines (rare earth oxide REO). Rare earth exploitation index is the enterprise exploitation index issued for the strategic metals such as rare earth, tungsten and molybdenum by the State Council of the PRC. It aims at ensuring the sustainable use of resources and maintaining the supply-demand balance. In 2015, the total exploitation control index of China’s rare earth mines (rare earth oxide REO) totally amounted to 105,000 tons. In Feb. 2016, the Ministry of Land and Resources of the People’s Republic of China issued the total exploitation control index of China’s first rare earth mines (rare earth oxide REO) which totally amounted to 52,500 tons.

At present, production capacity of China’s rare earth separation enterprises exceeds 300,000 tons. However, the global annual demand is no more than 150,000 tons, of which that of the international market is about 50,000 tons and that of domestic market is less than 100,000 tons. The dominant position of China’s rare earth on the global market is still stable. In 2015, the actual production of China’s rare earth was more than 150,000 tons which was higher than the quota. The reasons lied in the illegal exploitation.

In terms of the demand, rare earth downstream demand is divided into five major parts including permanent magnet materials, catalytic materials, luminescent materials, polishing materials and hydrogen storage materials. With the rapid development of high-tech industries, rare earth is more widely used in the high and new-tech fields and the consumption of rare earth new materials (permanent magnets, fluorescent powder, polishing powder, catalytic materials and hydrogen storage materials) increases rapidly. Compared with it, the consumption in the traditional application field faces a slow growth. Application industries related to rare earth such as wind power, new-energy automobiles, electric scooters, smart phones, wearable electronic equipments and sensors have a good development forecast, which have promoted the development of rare earth industry.

Through this report, the readers can acquire the following content:

-Supply and Demand Status of Rare Earth

-Global Rare Earth Trade Status

-Government Policies on Rare Earth Industry in China

-Export Status of Rare Earth in China

-Smuggling Status of Rare Earth in China

-Price Trend of Rare Earth in China

-Key Enterprises in China’s Rare Earth Industry

-Prospect of China’s Rare Earth Industry

The Following Enterprises and People Are Recommended to Purchase This Report:

-Rare Earth Manufacturers

-Rare Earth Trading Enterprises

-Rare Earth Downstream Enterprises

-Investors/Research Institutes Concerned About China Rare Earth Industry

Table of Contents

1 Relevant Concepts of Rare Earth Industry

1.1 Definition and Classification

1.1.1 Definition

1.1.2 Classification

1.2 Distribution and Production Capacity of Rare Earth Mines

1.2.1 Global Distribution of Rare Earth

1.2.2 Global Production Capacity of Rare Earth

1.3 Application Fields of Rare Earth

2 Supply and Demand of Rare Earth in China, 2009-2015

2.1 Development Process of China’s Rare Earth Industry

2.1.1 Overview

2.1.2 Distribution of Rare Earth Mines in China

2.1.3 Production of Rare Earth in China

2.1.4 Consumption and Export of China’s Rare Earth

2.1.5 Price Trend of Rare Earth in China

2.2 Development Environment of China’s Rare Earth Industry

2.2.1 Policy Environment

2.2.2 Economic Environment

2.3 Global Rare Earth Consumption

2.3.1 Overview of Global Consumption

2.3.2 China

2.3.3 The U.S.

2.3.4 Japan

2.4 Export of China’s Rare Earth

2.4.1 Analysis of China’s Rare Earth Export

2.4.2 Stealing and Smuggling of Rare Earth in China

3 Analysis of China’s Rare Earth Downstream Application Fields, 2011-2015

3.1 Rare Earth Permanent Magnet Materials

3.1.1 Production Status of NdFeB in China

3.1.2 Applications of Rare Earth Permanent Magnet Materials in China

3.2 Rare Earth Luminescent Materials

3.2.1 Production Status of Rare Earth Luminescent Materials in China

3.2.2 Application Status of Rare Earth Luminescent Materials in China

3.3 Rare Earth Hydrogen Storage Materials

3.4 Rare Earth Polishing Materials

3.5 Rare Earth Catalytic Materials

4 Top 6 Enterprises in China’s Rare Earth Industry, 2013-2016

4.1 China Minmetals Corporation

4.1.1 Enterprise Profile

4.1.2 Operation Status

4.1.3 Development Strategies of the Enterprise

4.2 Aluminum Corporation of China

4.3 Baogang Group

4.4 Xiamen Tungsten Co., Ltd.

4.5 Ganzhou Rare Earth Group Co., Ltd.

4.6 Guangdong Rare Earth Industry Group

5 Prospect of China’s Rare Earth Industry, 2016-2020

5.1 Factors Influencing Development

5.1.1 Policy Environment

5.1.2 Economic Environment

5.2 Market Prospect

5.2.1 Prediction on Production Capacity

5.2.2 Prediction on Production Volume

5.2.3 Prediction on Demand

5.3 Prediction on Investment Opportunities

Selected Charts

Chart Categories of Rare Earth

Chart Application of Rare Earth in Traditional Industries

Chart Application of Rare Earth in the Field of Functional Materials

Chart Production of China’s Rare Earth, 2005-2015

Chart Major Rare Earth Mining Enterprises in China

Chart Development Process of China’s Rare Earth Quota System

Chart Quantity of Legal Rare Earth Exporters in China

Chart Export Volume of China’s Rare Earth, 2008-2015

Chart Export Value of China’s Rare Earth, 2008-2015

Chart Major NdFeB Manufacturers in China, 2015

Chart Major Manufacturers of Rare Earth Luminescent Materials in China and Their Production Capacity, 2015

Chart Major Policies of China’s Rare Earth Industry, 2008-2016

Chart Government Departments Regulating Rare Earth Industry in China

Chart Prediction on Production of China’s Rare Earth, 2016-2020

Chart Global Emerging Regions in Need of Rare Earth

The post Research Report on Rare Earth Industry in China, 2011-2020 first appeared on CRI Report.