Eroding glut of rare earths could halt price downtrend

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By Amy Lv and Lewis Jackson

BEIJING- Prices of rare earth minerals are likely to stabilize in 2025 after a two-year downturn, as China slows mining output to protect domestic producers and growing demand from electric vehicles and humanoid robots eats away at a supply glut.

Prices are up 2 percent so far in January for the group of 17 elements key to products from lasers and electric vehicles to iPhones, after a fall of nearly two-thirds from a February 2022 peak, following the collapse of a furious rally amid oversupply.

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China produces roughly 90 percent of refined rare earths and controls supply via strict quotas.

Analysts expect another year of tight control over growth in 2025 and buoyant demand from end-users in the clean energy industry should support prices this year.

An end to the two-year downturn spells relief for producers nursing heavy losses, while boosting projects outside China that are part of Western governments’ efforts to build a supply chain that will cut reliance on China for critical minerals.

“A little bit of a market reversion is a good thing for our business … the same way it’s a good thing for miners,” Scott Dunn, CEO of Noveon Magnetics, the only US maker of sintered NdFeB magnets used in electronics, told Reuters in an interview late in December. —Reuters

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