Rare earth market quotation in China: the latest prices of praseodymium oxide, neodymium oxide drop slightly while cerium oxide price remains unchanged. At the beginning of this week, the listing prices in the South Rare Earth has been slightly weakened, which fits the current mentality of the spot market.

Global molybdenum production remained unchanged in the first quarter of 2019 compared with the same period last year, while global use fell 7%, according to data released July 10 by the International Molybdenum Association (IMOA). Global production was 137.9 million pounds in the first quarter, down 12% from the previous quarter.

China remains the largest producer of molybdenum, with production of 51.5 million pounds. That's up 11% from the same quarter in 2018, but down 13% from the previous quarter. South America is the second largest producer, producing 43.3 million pounds, down 10% from the same period in 2018 and 15% from the previous quarter. North American production increased 1 percent to 33.4 million pounds from a year earlier, although it was down 9% from the previous quarter. Production in other countries held steady at 9.7 million pounds compared with the previous quarter, although it was down 4% from the same period last year.

Global usage fell 7% to 136.6 million pounds from the same period last year, and 1% from the previous quarter. China is still the biggest user at £44.5m, although it was down 18% on the same period last year and down 6% in the previous quarter. Europe was the second largest user at 37.3 million pounds, up 2% from the same period last year and 5% from the previous quarter. Japan used 13.7 million pounds, down 2% from the same period last year but up 1% from the previous quarter. Usage in the United States fell 9% to 13.5 million pounds from the same period last year and was down 10% from the previous quarter. Compared with the same period last year, CIS countries saw the largest increase in usage, with 9% to 5.6 million pounds, up 7% from the previous quarter. Other countries used 21.9 million pounds. That was down 1% from a year earlier, but up 2% from the previous quarter.

Chinese molybdenum market remained stable with the support of firm prices of molybdenum concentrate and active inquiry for ferro molybdenum. Sellers now have strong rised mentality while downstream still is cautious. As a result, transactions are hardly concluded at high prices. 

From May to June, China’s rare earth exports rose by 9%, According to customs data on last Friday. Amid Sino-US trade disputes, a two-month decline has raised concerns about supplies from the world's largest producer of materials.

According to the data from general administration of customs. 3,966 tons of products containing 17 chemical elements, from high-tech consumer electronics to military equipment, were exported last month.

Figure of June was down 27.3% from a revised figure of 5455 tons for June last year. That was still up from 3640 in May, which was down sharply from April. Exports down 11.3% year-on-year by totaled 23232 tons, for the first half of 2019, the data showed.

China's rare earth exports have fluctuated sharply, recently reaching 5,421 tons in December and as low as 2,886 tons in February.

China has raised the prospect of restricting rare earth exports to the United States in retaliation for U.S. tariffs imposed in the tit-for-tat trade war, but has not publicly announced any restrictions.