SMM, June 2: To more accurately reflect rare earth price fluctuations and provide better services for industry chain clients to facilitate long-term contract price settlements, SMM recently added the "Rare Earth Evening Price" data points. There are two ways to access the data: first, through the data terminal to view historical evening price data, which has been updated since April 27, 2026, and currently covers over a month of evening price fluctuations for Pr-Nd and gadolinium products; second, through "Renrenkan" to view the daily rare earth evening price chart, which publishes evening price charts with transaction comments, enabling industry chain clients to stay informed of market trends in a timely manner.
Since H2 2025, rare earth price fluctuations have intensified significantly. Taking Pr-Nd products as an example, Pr-Nd alloy prices broke through a near three-year high at the end of February 2026, reaching 1.09 million yuan/mt, but pulled back to a low of 830,000 yuan/mt by the end of May, with a price fluctuation range of 260,000 yuan/mt. During periods of wild swings, morning and afternoon often showed two different prices. As a result, downstream purchasing attitudes turned wait-and-see, with mornings mostly at the inquiry stage and actual transaction peaks gradually shifting to the afternoon. To more accurately monitor price changes between morning and afternoon, SMM began providing pricing feedback based on actual afternoon transactions.
Regarding the use of evening prices for long-term contract order settlements, taking the long-term contract settlement between metal enterprises and magnetic material enterprises as an example: since evening prices reflect the actual afternoon transaction prices of the day, they are closer to real market trading levels and can effectively protect the interests of buyers and sellers. For long-term contract orders between magnetic material enterprises and end-users, since these contracts are mostly annual or semi-annual, price spreads between morning and afternoon do exist during periods of market fluctuations. However, over a longer time horizon, when combining the price spreads during both rising and falling periods, the ultimate price difference is relatively small. Additionally, the previous afternoon's price also influences the morning price trend of the following day. Therefore, the impact of evening prices on end-user clients' long-term contract order signing is relatively limited, and for price selection, it is more recommended to use morning prices for long-term contract signing.
