China’s Rare Earth Exports Plummeted by 22% -US Needs to Rebuild the Rare Earth Supply Chain

In April, China exported a total of 3737.2 tons of rare earths, a drop of 22.9% from March. The United States and Japan are worried about China’s supply of rare earths.Lion Comment: Rare earth has the reputation of “universal soil”. Due to its excellent photoelectromagnetic physical properties, rare earths can form many different new materials with many materials. It is an indispensable scarce resource in many cutting-edge fields such as new energy, aerospace, and semiconductors. As the world’s largest rare earth country, the biggest advantage of China’s rare earth industry lies in its advanced separation and purification technology, high efficiency and low cost. With this advantage, China provides 90% of the world’s rare earth production with 30% of the rare earth resources. At the same time, since 2011, the number of rare earth patent applications in China each year has exceeded that of other countries in the world combined. The United States relies entirely on imports of rare earths, and is very worried that China will cut off the supply. Pensana, a British rare earth supplier, has begun to build a rare earth supply chain and will spend US$125 million to build a sustainable rare earth separation plant. Five countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, are considering cooperating with Greenland, which has abundant rare earth reserves, to reduce the risk of “out of supply” of rare earths.