China says undervaluing rare earths will lead to a race to the bottom

REUTERS: China’s rare earths are undervalued due to fierce competition and face low resource utilization, leading to a race to the bottom, the country’s industry minister said on Monday.

“Our rare earths were not sold at the price of ‘rare’, but at the price of ‘land’ … due to competitive bidding, which wasted the precious resource,” said Xiao Yaqing from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology ( MIIT). during a press conference.

Threats from China, the world’s leading producer of rare earths, a group of 17 minerals used in military equipment, consumer electronics and electric vehicles, to curb exports of materials to the United States have left Washington scrambling for alternative supplies. .

The country’s rare earth exports hit a five-year low in 2020 amid pandemic-hit overseas demand and increased supply in domestic industries.

MIIT proposed in January tightening regulation of the rare earth industry chain, including a stipulation that importers and exporters abide by export control and foreign trade laws.

“The government must play a role in maintaining order in the market, to lose what can be loosened and control what must be controlled,” Xiao said.

The minister said that some producers were producing excessive amounts of rare earths, causing environmental problems and low resource utilization rates.

Meanwhile, the industry also lacks high-end rare earth products, which works against innovation and technological progress, he added.

“We should learn from Japanese companies in this regard, as many Japanese companies have done a lot of work on high-end rare earth products,” he added.

China’s rare earth mining quota in the first half of 2021 was set at 84,000 tonnes, a 27% increase from the previous year.

(Reporting by Gabriel Crossley; written by Se Young Lee and Min Zhang; edited by Christopher Cushing, Shivani Singh and Gerry Doyle)