China ends export limits on rare-earth metals
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.028543
Wall Street Journal : Following China’s 2013 loss in a World Trade Organization dispute, the country has announced that it will be ending its quotas on rare-earth exports, which have been in place for the past 10 years. Rare-earth metals, while not necessarily rare in nature, require major mining infrastructure to extract and are highly valuable because of their use in advanced technologies. In 2010, China had sharply reduced its export quotas on 17 rare-earth metals, which drove up global prices for the materials. In the wake of the rising prices, other countries sought alternate sources for the ores. As a result, China’s control of the global supply dropped from 93% to 86%, and it has failed to reach its export limits for the last two years.
