Japanese Rare Earth Import Decreases for 2 Months

Japanese rare earth import volume doubled in July compared with a year earlier, according to Ministry of Finance. The import volume showed significant year-on-year increase due to inventory adjustment in July 2009 after global economy deterioration. The current demand for rare earth keeps steady while the import volume decreased month-to-month comparison in June and July. Chinese exporters seem to be regulating supply volume.

Market demand is strong for neodymium which is used for permanent magnet of motors. Neodymium magnet is applied to hybrid cars and energy saving appliances while the demand is recovering from tooling machines. Demand related to hybrid car is also steady for misch metal which is applied to nickel hydride battery. Rare earth users keep active material procurement.

Meanwhile, Chinese government recently launched regulative policies on rare earth mining and export. As a result, international market price has surged for magnet materials including neodymium and dysprosium. Japanese rare metal trader said material procurement is recently difficult when rare earth suppliers tend to hold inventories with an expectation for price upsurge. According to the import statistics, the unit price jumped by 40% to 2,477 yen per kilogram in July from a year earlier.

Import volume also increased for rare earth oxide including cerium oxide, yttrium oxide and lanthanum oxide. Import unit price surged by 20% year-on-year comparison for cerium oxide and yttrium oxide.