Weak demand weighs on rare earth prices

SHANGHAI, Sep 23 (SMM) – Prices of rare-earth oxides across Chinese spot markets fell last week, as downstream consumers held back from purchasing in consideration of existing inventories from pre-holiday stockpiling.

Sellers had to lower their quotes to offload cargoes amid poor trades.

SMM assessments showed that prices of praseodymium-neodymium oxide dipped from 328,000-333,000 yuan/mt at the start of the week to 320,000-325,000 yuan/mt as of Friday September 20. Prices of neodymium oxide, meanwhile, slipped to 322,000-327,000 yuan/mt.

For medium-to-heavy materials, prices of dysprosium oxide fell from 1.92-1.94 million mt to 1.88-1.9 million yuan/mt, with those of terbium oxide down from 3.93-3.95 million yuan/mt to 3.89-3.91 million yuan/mt.

Prices of holmium oxide declined to 365,000-372,000 yuan/mt as of September 20, with those of yttrium oxide down to 20,000-21,000 yuan/mt.

SMM expects recovering demand to limit downside room in prices of rare-earth oxides. Prices of praseodymium-neodymium oxide could also find support from tightening supplies.