China Likely to Begin Rare Earth Stockpiling Soon

SHANGHAI, Sep. 7 (SMM) –China’s State Reserve Bureau (SRB) will issue tenders to buy rare earth in early September under optimistic forecast, cnstock.com reported.

On August 26, the SRB held an informal meeting with high-raking staff from the country’s four large rare earth groups, including Chalco Rare Earth, China South Rare Earth Group, Guangdong Rare Earth Industry Group and Xiamen Tungsten. 

On August 31, China’s National Development & Reform Commission (NDRC) and the SRB held talks with China’s Ministry of Finance over fund allocation for rare earth stockpiling.   

How much rare earth the SRB will buy is still unknown for now. 

Disagreement will exist over pricing, one industry source said. On one hand, suppliers demand 10-15% price hike from current average market price. The SRB, on the other hand, will stockpile rare earth using average prices released by several platforms, such as the Association of China Rare Earth Industry and Asian Metal, over the past six months, as reference, the source explained. 

There is a good chance that purchasing price by the SRB will be based upon average prices released by six platforms or websites over the past six month, a source from six large rare earth groups said. 

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