China exerts more control over rare-earth metals market

China’s manufacturing industry has forced them to become an extremely resource dependent nation. Knowing this however, the Chinese have been strategically purchasing large amounts of both precious and rare-earth metals.With direct access to Mongolia’s deep rare-earth deposits, China has bee able to control the industry and ultimately set prices. NASDAQ reports on China’s new strategy to profit off their rare-earth metal monopoly:

Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Rare-Earth (Group) Hi-Tech Co. (600111.SH), China’s largest rare-earth producer by output, plans to launch a rare-earth trading platform on Aug. 8 this year, the company said in an in-house news report.

The physical trading bourse will extend China’s efforts to exert more control over the pricing of major industrial commodities, including these 17 strategically important metals that are used in global high-technology applications such as defense systems and telecommunications.

China controls about 95% of the world’s rare-earth production, and its attempts to restrict exports have become the basis of a trade complaint by the U.S., Europe and Japan at the World Trade Organization.

Last month, the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office said the Obama administration remains “deeply troubled” over China’s restrictions on the exports of rare earths and is deciding on its next course of action after concluding consultations with Beijing through the World Trade Organization.

China launched a physical trading platform for iron ore in May, although the exchange’s data show it has been thinly used so far.

Continue to the full article…

Share this article

About the author

Stay in the loop

Get our new Articles delivered Straight to your inbox, right as we publish them...

0 Shares
Share via
Copy link