Comments on: 2012 Chinese Rare-Earth Export-Quota Allocations – An Update

By: henk mol

henk mol — Mon, 21 May 2012 05:53:17 +0000

Dear Gareth,
Is the demand for LREEs still affected by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan? It is remarkably silent around battery making for hybrid cars, which are based on NiMH (LREE) chemistry. Fact is, it is hard to get a rare occasion of a failing hybrid drive battery in a Toyota fixed today as the battery is not available.

By: Nevada George

Nevada George — Fri, 18 May 2012 21:05:16 +0000

Gareth

Do you think that there is any manipulation/distortion in
the way the allocations were distributed?
For instance…were HRE allocations given to LRE producers
that have no use for the allocation.(they don’t have the quantity
of product to fill the allocation).??????????????????

By: Gareth Hatch

Gareth Hatch — Fri, 18 May 2012 17:14:28 +0000

@Arlen: quota utilization was 66% in 2008, 57% in 2009, 77% in 2010 and 56% in 2011.

@blackjack: I think there are some that definitely over-think some of these things :-)

@Giuseppe Buzzetti: thank you for your comments.

@christina: yes, these are only for the companies that process and separate the rare earths.

@E. Lee Huston: Jiangyin Jiahua Advanced Material Resources Co. is a Neo Material Technologies company that received confirmed quota in the first batch.

@Ron: I think it’s early days to see if there will be consequences of such tariffs.

@robit: there has been no further clarification, to my knowledge, I’m afraid.

By: robit

robit — Fri, 18 May 2012 16:59:30 +0000

I believe this question is another phrasing of Christina’s question: has there been any clarifying of how the quotas apply to the different ree-containing-materials that are exported and how the ree-content-weight-to-total-weight-rato is calculated against the quota? That seemed to be quite a confusing factor in the last few quota specifications.

By: Ron

Ron — Fri, 18 May 2012 15:28:09 +0000

Hi Gareth,
Thanks again for your dilligence & finger on the pulse.
I wonder what, if any, effects going forward regarding the ill concieved US tariff on China photovoltaic solar panels will have on the WEE & specifically the US?

Best regards, Ron

By: E. Lee Huston

E. Lee Huston — Fri, 18 May 2012 13:29:28 +0000

Hi Gareth,
Thanks for the update. Here’s my question:
What enterprises operated by Neo Material have made the approved list?
— Lee

By: christina

christina — Fri, 18 May 2012 12:21:14 +0000

Hi Gareth,
Thank you for all these informative update. I wonder if these quota are only for the rare earth metal companies, since I cannot see the names of NdFeB manufacturers, such as Sanhuan and Yunsheng.
All the best,

Christina

By: Giuseppe Buzzetti

Giuseppe Buzzetti — Fri, 18 May 2012 06:34:14 +0000

Dear Gareth

Many thanks for your continual and accurate updating of REE sources and availability.
Such informations are very useful for anybody who wants anderstand the present situation and make some prediction about the future.

Thank you again

G Buzzetti

By: blackjack

blackjack — Fri, 18 May 2012 05:56:25 +0000

thanks Gareth

one wonders what the Chinese are really up to.

are they keeping the REE’s for their own use
are they trying to control world prices
or are we all thinking to deeply into it

we’ll know soon enough
eh?

By: Arlen

Arlen — Fri, 18 May 2012 05:16:31 +0000

Thank you again, Gareth, for another helpful and timely posting.
If you have easy access to them, it would be interesting to see the numbers for the percentages of the quotas for the last few years which were actually used.
Arlen