Japanese rare earth import decreased by 40% to 186 tonnes in February from a year earlier, according to Ministry of Finance. The import represented the lowest volume since October 2010. Domestic users reduced material procurement and refrained from inventory increase before the end of Japanese major fiscal year in March.
Indium import was 11 tonnes in February, about a quarter volume of a year earlier. Japanese ITO (indium-tin-oxide) sputtering target makers reduced operation rate due to overstock of liquid crystal panel televisions in the market. Japanese import also decreased for cerium oxide, yttrium oxide and lanthanum oxide in February. Cerium oxide is used as polish agent for liquid crystal panels and hard discs. Yttrium oxide is used as fluorescent material. Lanthanum oxide is adopted to optical glasses. Import of tantalum (potassium fluorotantalate) was also low, which is used for capacitors of mobile electronics.