Rare Earth Prices Declined Overall, Futures Disturbances Were the Cause [SMM Rare Earth Weekly Review]

Published: May 14, 2026 15:55

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[SMM Rare Earth Weekly Review: Overall Decline in Rare Earth Prices Driven by Futures Disruptions] The Pr-Nd oxide market was in the doldrums overall this week. Affected by price fluctuations in futures, traders made shipments at low prices. Meanwhile, the "rush to buy amid continuous price rise and hold back amid price downturn" sentiment intensified the wait-and-see sentiment among downstream metal plants, with poor purchase willingness. Market trading activity was very sluggish. As of today, Pr-Nd oxide prices had fluctuated downward to 745,000-750,000 yuan/mt.

May 14 update:

Rare earth ore:

Today, the rare earth carbonate price range was 60,300-62,200 yuan/mt, monazite prices were adjusted to 4.2-4.6 yuan/mt, and medium-yttrium, europium-rich ore prices were around 243,000-245,000 yuan/mt. Currently, the circulation rate of rare earth ore in the market remained at a relatively low level. Overall, separation plants showed weak purchase willingness for rare earth ore, which kept market transactions sluggish and left rare earth ore prices lacking upward momentum.

Rare earth oxides:

Lanthanum oxide prices continued to hold steady this week, remaining stable at 5,000-5,800 yuan/mt. The cerium oxide market saw slight price raises recently, with prices adjusted to 14,400-15,200 yuan/mt within the week. The Pr-Nd oxide market was overall in the doldrums this week. Affected by futures price fluctuations, traders made shipments at low prices. Meanwhile, the "rush to buy amid continuous price rise and hold back amid price downturn" sentiment intensified wait-and-see sentiment among downstream metal plants, with poor purchase willingness and an extremely sluggish market trading atmosphere. As of today, Pr-Nd oxide prices fluctuated downward to 745,000-750,000 yuan/mt. Medium-heavy rare earth side, the dysprosium oxide market suffered from severely insufficient confidence, with downstream metal plant demand remaining sluggish. Some suppliers lowered their quotes, and dysprosium oxide prices further declined to 1.31-1.34 million yuan/mt this week. Terbium oxide market trading remained sluggish. Factory quotes were relatively firm, but buyers aggressively pushed for lower prices on inquiries, with prices slightly adjusted to 6.08-6.12 million yuan/mt within the week. Gadolinium oxide prices declined following the market trend. Metal plant inquiries were sluggish, and some traders proactively made shipments at low prices, with prices continuing to decline to 257,000-233,000 yuan/mt within the week. Holmium oxide prices continued to hold steady, but actual market transactions remained poor, with prices temporarily stable within the 545,000-550,000 yuan/mt range this week. Erbium oxide suppliers notably raised their quotes overall, with low-priced supplies tightening rapidly. As of today, erbium oxide prices were raised to 430,000-440,000 yuan/mt. Yttrium oxide market prices saw further slight declines this week, with buyer inquiry enthusiasm declining, and prices lowered to 60,000-63,000 yuan/mt this week.

Rare earth metals:

This week, cerium metal prices ran overall stable, remaining steady at 35,000-35,500 yuan/mt. Pr-Nd alloy prices showed an overall downward trend this week, declining to 905,000-915,000 yuan/mt. At the beginning of the week, influenced by news related to Trump's visit to China and China-US trade negotiations, Pr-Nd prices halted their downward trend. However, Pr-Nd oxide prices subsequently continued to decline, while downstream inquiry and procurement activities decreased. Under this dual impact, some metal suppliers lowered their quotes. As the weekend approached, spot neodymium oxide quotes recovered. Supported by raw material costs, Pr-Nd alloy prices also stopped falling, downstream purchasing activities gradually resumed, and actual trading volume in the market increased. Medium-heavy rare earth market, dysprosium-iron alloy closed at 1.29-1.31 million yuan/mt, with prices maintaining a downward trend this week, mainly due to persistently sluggish downstream inquiry and purchasing activities, which were mostly dominated by attempts to push for lower prices, leading suppliers to continuously lower their quotes. Terbium metal prices were lowered to 7.5-7.55 million yuan/mt. Market inquiries remained sluggish this week, compounded by raw material price pullbacks. Although suppliers lowered their quotes, actual transactions did not improve. Gadolinium-iron alloy first fell then rose this week, showing an overall downward trend, mainly due to the continued pullback in raw material prices combined with the impact of Pr-Nd product price reductions. Metal enterprises lowered their quotes, and although prices were raised near the weekend, downstream inquiry activities remained limited, with gadolinium-iron prices adjusting to 223,000-237,000 yuan/mt during the week.

Rare Earth Permanent Magnets:

Currently, NdFeB blank N38 (Ce) closed at 236-246 yuan/kg; NdFeB blank 40M was priced at 282-292 yuan/kg; NdFeB blank 40H was priced at 286-296 yuan/kg; NdFeB blank 45SH (Ce) was priced at 336-356 yuan/kg.

Price-wise, NdFeB prices saw a notable reduction this week, primarily because Pr-Nd oxide and alloy prices, key raw materials for NdFeB, trended downward this week, driving NdFeB magnetic material prices further down. Trading-wise, trading activity was weak this week. As raw material prices continued to pull back, end-users exhibited strong wait-and-see sentiment, compounded by existing downstream inventory, and actual market transactions were sluggish.

Rare Earth Scrap:

This week, Pr-Nd recycled from NdFeB scrap was priced at 745-755 yuan/kg; dysprosium recycled from NdFeB scrap was priced at 1,260-1,280 yuan/kg; terbium recycled from NdFeB scrap was priced at 5,800-6,000 yuan/kg.

This week, the scrap market continued its overall downward trend, mainly due to the continued decline in oxide prices. Recycling enterprises lowered their outbound order signing and purchasing quotes, but as the weekend approached, with Pr-Nd oxide prices recovering, scrap Pr-Nd prices rebounded slightly. Early in the week, spot Pr-Nd oxide quotes saw a notable reduction due to disturbances from Zhonglian Jin futures prices, causing scrap prices to decline in tandem. However, scrap suppliers showed weak willingness to sell at low prices, and market trading was rather stagnant. Meanwhile, as dysprosium oxide prices continued to pull back, order signing and purchasing quotes for scrap dysprosium were continuously lowered.

Data Source Statement: Except for publicly available information, all other data are processed by SMM based on publicly available information, market communication, and relying on SMM's internal database model. They are for reference only and do not constitute decision-making recommendations.

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