Japan Rare Metal Import Continues to Show Wide Drop in February

Japanese rare metals import continued to represent wide year-on-year drop in February. According to the trade statistics by Ministry of Finance, indium import decreased by 50% and antimony import plunged by 96%. Import volume also dropped for molybdenum, rare earths and lithium carbonate.

Domestic indium demand decreased from indium-tin-oxide, the main application of indium used for transparent electrode of liquid crystal panels, and low-melting-point alloys. Antimony import sharply declined when Japanese major antimony trioxide maker lowered its operation.

Molybdenum import volume decreased by 58% year-on-year in February with stagnant demand from special steel and stainless steel makers.

Rare earths import plunged to one seventh year-on-year, which is used mainly for neodymium-iron-boron magnet. Domestic demand for rare earth magnet is impacted by inventory adjustment of automobiles, electronic appliances and machine tools.

Lithium carbonate import decreased by 49% year-on-year despite of demand growth expectation for lithium ion batteries.