Rare‑earth export dip

China’s rare-earth magnet exports slipped in March, a small trade move in a market that many electronics and motor makers still rely on heavily. (reuters.com) China shipped 5,238 metric tons of rare-earth magnets in March, down 1.6% from a year earlier but up 10.5% from February, according to data released April 20 by the General Administration of Customs. First-quarter shipments reached 16,001 tons, up 4.8% from a year earlier. (reuters.com) The sharper move was in trade with Japan. Bloomberg reported that China’s magnet shipments to Japan fell 17% from February to about 184 tons in March, while exports of intermediate rare-earth materials including oxides dropped by nearly 90%. (bloomberg.com) Rare-earth magnets are the high-strength magnets used in electric-vehicle motors, wind turbines, industrial motors, data centers, medical devices, and some defense systems. The International Energy Agency says neodymium-iron-boron magnets are among the strongest permanent magnets in industry and are used across those sectors. (iea.org) The supply chain is concentrated far beyond mining. A U.S. Department of Energy fact sheet says China controlled 58% of rare-earth mining and 92% of magnet manufacturing in 2020, leaving buyers exposed when trade flows shift. (energy.gov) That dependence has been visible in recent trade data. Reuters reported that Germany, South Korea, Vietnam, the United States, and India were the main destinations for China’s magnet exports in March, while shipments to the U.S. fell 16.1% from a year earlier to 353 tons. (reuters.com) Japan has lived through this risk before. A World Trade Organization panel found in 2014 that China’s export restrictions on rare earths, tungsten, and molybdenum breached global trade rules after complaints brought by the United States, the European Union, and Japan. (wto.org) Governments have spent the past few years trying to build alternatives, but the gap is still wide. The U.S. Geological Survey said in its 2025 Mineral Commodity Summaries that the United States mined and processed rare earths in 2024, including output from Mountain Pass in California, even as China remained the leading global producer. (usgs.gov) March’s export dip does not show a broad cutoff, and the month-to-month increase suggests shipments are still moving. But the drop to Japan and China’s continued dominance in magnet making keep every customs release in this market under close watch. (bloomberg.com)