80% of the most popular rare earth exporters face

Eighty percent of rare earth exporters are facing transformation due to quota tightening

if the integration of rare earth mining and production links is a competition around mining rights, the export control of rare earth resources will make a large number of domestic enterprises that rely on export quotas face life and death transformation

on October 23, a person from Minmetals rare earth (Ganzhou) Co., Ltd. told this newspaper that after the Ministry of Commerce significantly reduced rare earth export quotas, enterprises with quotas accounted for only 20% of rare earth export enterprises, and the remaining 80% of export enterprises will face transformation. At the same time, because rare earth is a metal material required for industrial production links such as computers, semiconductors, household appliances, automobiles, etc., at present, some Hong Kong and Taiwan factories will transfer the production links involving rare earth to Jiangxi, Shandong and other places to alleviate the tight supply of raw materials. According to the statistics released by the quota tightening, at the end of 2009, China's domestic rare earth reserves fell to 27million tons, accounting for 30% of the world's proven rare earth resources. In 1996, China's rare earth reserves accounted for 43% of the world's total. Nevertheless, in recent years, China's rare earth accounts for about 97% of the global supply market. Officials from the Ministry of Commerce said that if the current pattern is followed, China's rare earths will be exhausted in the next 15 to 20 years. Because of this, China has gradually tightened the development and utilization of rare earth resources in recent years. Rare earth quotas have also begun to be adjusted accordingly. According to the latest document issued by the Ministry of Commerce, the total export quota of rare earth this year was 30258 tons, nearly 40% less than 50145 tons in 2009. Only 23 enterprises have rare earth export quotas, 18 fewer than in 2008. A staff member of Jiangxi Ganzhou Deli rare earth Co., Ltd. told this newspaper that due to the lack of export quotas, enterprises began to explore the domestic market. According to Ganzhou Rare Earth Industry Association, Jiangxi Province, an important rare earth town in the south, received a rare earth export quota of 3188 tons in 2010, a decrease of 44% from 5707 tons in 2009. A person in charge of Jiangxi Ganxian Jinying Rare Earth Industry Co., Ltd. said that in previous years, some exporters supported their export business by buying quotas at high prices, but the possibility of continuing to do so this year is very small, and many small export enterprises have suspended their business. "It used to be possible to get a quota of one ton for several thousand yuan. Now the market price is 200000 tons, which is still difficult to get. Enterprises with quotas are not enough." A staff member in charge of customs declaration of a rare earth export enterprise in Guangdong said that the company spent more than half a year applying for quotas, "which is tantamount to being busy in vain, and the policy is very tight". "In fact, this year's rare earth exports should be better than last year, because the downstream industry of rare earth has recovered. But our quota has not increased, but decreased, which means that exports are very limited." A vice president of Minmetals told this newspaper. However, the sharp reduction of rare earth export quotas, on the one hand, reduced the low-cost export of rare earth, on the other hand, also stimulated the smuggling of rare earth in order to load the stretching fixture. What appears in the verification certificate is that the measurement results are directly compared with the specified limits. The above-mentioned person from Ganxian Jinying Rare Earth Industry Co., Ltd. said that the direct reason for the rampant smuggling of rare earth in China is the restriction of export quotas. "As far as I know, rare earth smuggling is still very serious. If the state does not make efforts in the customs inspection link, restricting rare earth quotas will only lead to more black market transactions." In addition, although many traders turn to the domestic market, one problem they face is that the domestic rare earth production can also meet the performance requirements of low temperature resistance to about (4) 0 ℃, color difference △ e less than 0.5 C, and high dimensional stability. The reduction speed can not catch up with the reduction speed of export quotas, and the production cost of rare earth has not decreased, which will lead to excess capacity of domestic rare earth, thus depressing the domestic rare earth price. Baotou Iron and Steel Co., Ltd., China's largest rare earth producer, is facing the above problems. The sales of rare earth in Baotou Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. accounts for about half of the total global demand. However, the total export sales of rare earth in Baotou Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. accounted for only 16.7% of the total sales in 2009. With the sharp reduction of export quotas this year by 40%, the export proportion of rare earth in Baotou Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. will be further reduced. Baotou Steel Rare Earth also admitted to this newspaper that export sales is an important sales channel of the company, and the reduction of export quotas year by year will have a certain impact on the company's sales. Some industries or transfer countries strictly regulate rare earth, which is changing the ecology of rare earth downstream industries. Rare earth is an indispensable raw material for manufacturing LED, LCD panel, touch panel, hybrid motor, DVD and other high-tech products. However, this mineral resource, which used to be "sold at a low price like cabbage", has increased by an average of 40%. The price of rare earth rises sharply, and the cost of the downstream rare earth industry will also rise. It is understood that at present, some rare earth processing plants in Shandong, Jiangxi, Baotou and other places have been semi shut down. "The reasons for the shutdown are that the state is rectifying, and that the sharp rise in rare earth prices has not been fully transmitted to the downstream. If we continue to process, we will only lose money." Baotou a rare earth processing plant technicians told. In addition to the fact that rare earth processing was affected by the rising price of rare earth for the first time, industries that need rare earth as raw materials, such as automobiles, home appliances, computers and new energy, are also facing a cost crisis. Zhang Guocheng, an academician of the Chinese Academy of engineering, said that more than 90% of the red phosphors used on color TV screens in the world come from Jiangxi, Baotou and other places. Without the supply of yttrium oxide (Note: a kind of rare earth elements) as large as China, color TV looks bad. Japan's recent criticism of China's rare earth policy is due to the fact that Japan's high-tech industry largely depends on rare earth imports. China's reduction in rare earth exports will have a direct impact on Japan's computer, semiconductor, home appliance, automobile and other industries. On October 25, Toshiba president Sasaki Zefu admitted in an interview with foreign media that rare earths have brought cost pressure to downstream industries. "At present, the cost problems caused by rare earth metal production are concentrated in China, but this does not mean that rare earth mines are basically in China." However, many insiders said that Japan is unlikely to fill the demand gap caused by China's rare earth regulation in two to three years. A person from the China Rare Earth Society said that taking the United States as an example, even if the government decided to reopen the pashan rare earth mine, which had been sealed for ten years, it was in 2012 at the earliest. In addition, lynas10, an Australian rare earth developer, said on October 25 that because rare earths are more widely used in the field of magnets and batteries, their global demand will increase at an annual rate of 9% in the next four years. Due to the increased demand for rare earths and tight supply, the price of rare earths is likely to rise further. The above-mentioned Rare Earth Institute personnel also said that with the development of new energy industry in various countries, the demand space for rare earth is still large, and the price rise has become a trend. For example, rare earth composite silicon carbide materials are materials needed for slicing solar silicon wafers that may have rust, corrosion and other phenomena. At present, some Taiwan solar energy production enterprises have transferred slicing production lines to Jiangxi, Shandong and other places in order to reduce costs. However, the above-mentioned people from the China Rare Earth Society believe that because rare earth is "industrial monosodium glutamate", the consumption accounts for a low proportion of the total cost, so it will not cause large-scale industrial transfer. In addition, the source believes that more and more rare earth demanding enterprises such as Japan and the United States will build rare earth processing plants in India, Southeast Asia, Mongolia and other surrounding areas of China