News Brief
Global Rare-Earth Metals Prices Hit Multi-Year Highs As US Hoards Supply, China Tightens Controls
For now, no one does REEs like China.
Prices of rare-earth metals are rising sharply, extending beyond those directly affected by Chinese export restrictions, as the United States holds back its own resources in the middle of trade frictions, Nikkei Asia reported.
Dysprosium was trading at $840 per kilogram in Europe on 18 September, around three times higher than before Beijing introduced export curbs in April, according to Argus Media.
Terbium, another rare earth element, has climbed to $3,600 per kilogram, hitting repeated record highs.
The rally has now spread to light rare earths not covered by China’s controls, such as neodymium and praseodymium.
A mixture of the two, known as NdPr, is critical for permanent magnets used in electric motors and wind turbines.
Prices in China reached $90,850 per metric ton in late August, the highest since March 2023 and close to a two-and-a-half-year peak.
Metallic neodymium has also surged nearly 50 per cent since early June.
The United States, which has larger reserves of light rare earths than heavy ones, has tightened supply.
In July, the company signed a decade-long deal with the US Department of Defense, which agreed to purchase NdPr at $110 per kilogram, about double market levels at the time, and to guarantee this price for 10 years.
Analysts say such government-backed price guarantees are rare.
Washington accounted for about 12 per cent of global rare-earth production in 2024, according to the US Geological Survey, but its refining capacity remains limited.
Much of its ore is still processed in China, which in late July tightened quotas on the total volume of rare earths mined and refined, including imported materials.
Analysts warn the new rules are amplifying price pressures.
