China's Rare Earth Exports Rose 6.5% in Q1, 2022

China's rare earth exports rose 6.5% year-on-year to 12,680 tons in Q1, 2022, slowing from 10.9% growth in the first two months of the year, customs data showed.

According to customs data, the rare earth exports of China in March is 4,845.2 tons, which industry observers said represented a "relatively high level" of monthly trade, suggesting that trading in the precious metal was not affected by geopolitical tensions and supply chain disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The value of rare earth exports in U.S. dollar terms rose 78 percent to $244.2 million in the first quarter compared to the same period last year as prices continued to climb. The figure compares with a 61.8% expansion in the January-February period.

"There has been no significant change in Chinese rare earth exports, which reflect normal trade patterns despite geopolitical tensions," Wu Chenhui, an independent rare earth industry analyst, told the Global Times.

But some industry sources estimate that the world's largest exporter of rare earths could see a decline in exports in the coming months as the country faces obstacles to its rare earth production capacity. The main border crossing between China and Myanmar, which accounts for about half of Chinese supply of rare earth minerals, has been closed again since the beginning of the year, posing a serious challenge to the diversion of raw material supplies and further price fluctuations.

In the first two months of 2022, China exported 7,835 tons of rare earths, up 10.9 percent from a year earlier, and exports were also up in Q1, 2022. A manager surnamed Yang at a state-owned rare earth company in Ganzhou, a city in eastern Jiangxi province, told the Global Times that the capacity of rare earth companies in Ganzhou, one of Chinese largest rare earth production bases, has been reduced by at least 25 percent compared with last year's levels.

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