Rare earth prices extend increases on bullish sentiment

SHANGHAI, Sep 16 (SMM) – Prices of light rare-earth oxides continued to climb from a week ago as top miner China Northern Rare Earth marking up its listed prices for September boosted market sentiment, SMM surveyed as of Monday September 16. 

SMM assessments showed that prices of praseodymium-neodymium oxide rose an average 3,000 yuan/mt on the week to 328,000-333,000 yuan/mt as of Monday September 16. Prices of neodymium oxide also advanced 3,000 yuan/mt, to stand at 330,000-335,000 yuan/mt.

Quotes of dysprosium oxide and terbium oxide held flat on the week, standing at 1.92-1.94 million yuan/mt and 3.93-3.95 million yuan/mt, respectively. 

Morale among rare earth producers was rallied by higher listed prices settled by China Northern Rare Earth, but downstream producers of magnetic materials only limitedly accepted higher quotes ahead of the mid-autumn festival holiday, and this capped the weekly increase in prices. 

SMM expects the recovery of downstream consumers and potential supply tightness on capacity closure to support prices of light rare earth oxides for the rest of the year. 

Sustained ore shortage will also keep prices of medium- to heavy rare earth oxides higher, even as some consumers started to seek alternatives to dysprosium oxide.