Myanmar Banned Rare Earth Exports to China

Myanmar has closed the border to China to suspend rare earth ore exports, given the environmental damage and conflicts caused by Chinese miners' unregulated operations. According to data, the trade volume between the two nations in the fiscal year 2016 to 2017 was 10.8 billion US dollars, and the fiscal year 2017 to 2018 was 11.78 billion US dollars. In the first four months of fiscal 2018 to 2019 (October 1, 2018, to January 31, 2019), the trade volume reached the US $ 3.74 billion.

Besides, Myanmar received US $ 2.355 billion of foreign investment in the first half of this year, of which the US $ 590 million was invested from China, an increase of 2.5 times over the same period last year. And while Vietnamese rice was waiting for Chinese buyers, Burmese rice was granted a "triple quota" in the Chinese market earlier this year.

In the middle of this month, Burmese rice export company Mandalay Rice publicly stated that the company has signed an order to export 50,000 tons of rice to China, and this batch of rice will be exported through the Qingshuihe National Port in Gengma County.

However, Chinese investment and cooperation did not stop Myanmar from stopping exports of rare earths. In 2018, the Chinese annual import volume reached 41,000 tons, which is more than 10 times that of 2015. Last year, China imported 26,000 tons of medium and heavy-ion rare earth ore from Myanmar, accounting for half of the domestic supply market.

However, Burmese rare-earth mine, which is responsible for exporting the minerals, was recently shut down. The reason is that some enterprises do not have legal mining qualifications. To avoid the loss of important resources, the country shut down rare earth mines.

At present, the "rare earth group" composed of the US, Australia, and Canada is undergoing fermentation, and Canada has promised to supply rare minerals with the US. Australia also said it has 4.5 million financial aid. Myanmar is also an ally of the US, and the shutdown is worth pondering. Moreover, the US and Australia's cooperation has encountered problems. It is reported that the US chose Australia's Lynas for rare earth development cooperation, which caused the company's stock price to soar by nearly 50% in 2019.

• < Prev
• Next >