Bearishness Spreading Over the Rare Earth Market

SHANGHAI, Mar 28 (SMM) - Separation companies were generally bullish on the rare earth market, and their willingness to ship oxides was low. Downstream magnetic material companies, affected by the rule of buying hikes but not dips, continued to consume their inventories, and the demand for spot goods was weak. Some traders became mainstream sellers in the market. At the beginning of the week, the prices of praseodymium neodymium (PrNd) oxide continued to decline. The mainstream transaction prices of PrNd oxide and alloy dropped slightly to 1.01-1.02 million yuan/mt, and 1.25-1.27 million yuan/mt respectively. In the middle of the week, some traders left the market, and the prices of PrN oxide dropped further to 980,000-1,000,000 yuan/mt, a drop to less than 1 million yuan/mt for the first time after entering 2022, and the mainstream prices of alloy market were lowered to 1.24-1.25 million yuan/mt. Near the weekend, the mainstream transaction prices of PrNd oxide stabilised, and the quotation of alloy was mostly between 1.22-1.23 million yuan/mt, and  inquiries about PrNd products increased.

The prices of middle and heavy rare earth products continued to decline last week. At the beginning of the week, terbium oxide prices continued to decline. The mainstream market transaction was made at 13.9-14.2 million yuan/mt. In the middle of the week, the prices of terbium oxide were lowered to 13.8-14 million yuan/mt according to the broad rare earth oxide market, and there existed some demand under small orders. The mainstream transaction prices dropped further to 13.6-13.8 million yuan/mt near the weekend. The mainstream transaction prices of terbium metal fell from 18.3 million yuan/mt at the beginning of the week to 17.8-18.1 million yuan/mt, and the inquiries for metal were weaker than oxides.

Inquires for yttrium oxide were low last week, and mainstream transaction prices stabilised at 88,000-90,000 yuan/mt.

The mainstream transaction prices of dysprosium oxide were lowed to 2.91-2.93 million yuan/mt at the beginning of last week. In the middle of the week, the prices declined further to 2.88-2.9 million yuan/mt, and a small amount of market transactions was done at 2.9 million yuan/mt. Near the weekend, due to the lack of market inquiries and the large inventory of dysprosium oxide, the price reduction of accelerated, and the mainstream transaction in the market was around 2.85 million yuan/mt. Dysprosium metal prices fell with that of dysprosium oxide. At the beginning of the week, the metal was reported at 3.88-3.9 million yuan/mt, and dropped to 3.8-3.85 million yuan/mt near the weekend, which was 5% lower than the mainstream market quotation the week before.