China’s rare earth exports inched up nearly 1% from a month earlier to 2,892.8 mt in June, according to data from the country’s General Administration of Customs released on Tuesday.

According to a notice on the company's website released on Thursday June 11, the Baotou-based rare earths supplier will sell praseodymium-neodymium oxide at 310,000 yuan/mt, tax-included and ex-factory, for the month of June, up about 8% from the previous month.

China's imports of bauxite, the main ore source of aluminium and which has to be first refined into alumina, rose to a record high in the March quarter, due to greater demand and lower sea freight costs.

China’s imports of copper ore and concentrate increased about 14% to 2.03 million mt in April from a month earlier, according to data from China’s General Administration of Customs released on Thursday.

China’s imports of aluminium scrap expanded in March, as secondary aluminium producers in the country rushed to fulfill backlogged orders after suspending production for more than a month due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Data from China customs showed that China imported 77,000 mt of aluminium scrap last month, down 39.1% from March 2019. That brought total imports in the first three months of 2020 to 199,000 mt, down 40.1% from the same period last year.

Prices of rare earths in China saw some stabilisation last week, with those of praseodymium-neodymium inching up on mild demand recovery.

China exported 5,551 mt of rare earths in March, the highest monthly level since at least 2014, showed data from the General Administration of Customs released on Tuesday.

Last year, the Republic of Guinea, Australia, and Indonesia remained the top three bauxite exporters to China, with their combined volume accounting for over 94% of the China’s total bauxite imports

China imported 4.32 million mt of nickel ore and concentrate last month, down 27.91% from November

For the first 11 months of 2019, the exports amounted to 5.25 million mt, down 0.3% from the same period last year