Worsening Situation in Myanmar Causes Another Disruption in Ion-Adsorption Ore Imports

Recently, due to the worsening situation in Myanmar leading to border closures, Myanmar minerals have struggled to enter the domestic market. However, the supply of rare earth ores from Laos is relatively sufficient at present. Additionally, the import volume of Myanmar ores increased at the end of September, so the short-term supply of raw materials remains relatively ample. Nevertheless, some miners have pointed out that the border closure in Myanmar may last for more than two months, which will have a certain impact on the supply chain. Separation plants also indicated that if the border closure in Myanmar exceeds two months, the supply of raw materials might become tight. Under the influence of these factors, the overall price of rare earth raw materials has stabilized.

The downstream magnetic material market is relatively sluggish. Some large magnetic material enterprises have noted that orders from the downstream new energy sector have increased, but the transaction prices have not reached the market average, leading to compressed profits for enterprises. Orders from other sectors have not significantly increased, and overall production remains stable. However, the order growth for small and medium-sized enterprises is not obvious, and their enthusiasm is low. The overall market sentiment is not optimistic, with a strong wait-and-see attitude. In view of this, SMM expects that the trend of rare earth prices may continue to remain stable.