SHANGHAI, Jun 23 (SMM) – China Southern Rare Earth Group, one of the six state-owned rare earth mining groups in China, continued to lift the listed prices for terbium oxide, a type of medium-to-heavy rare earth oxide, for this week.
SMM expects the higher listed prices to continue to prop up the domestic rare earth market, which has seen prices of several medium-to-heavy rare earth oxides rising since mid-May.
The adjustment brought quotes of terbium oxide to 4.55 million yuan/mt, up 100,000 yuan/mt from a week ago, following a rise of 150,000 yuan/mt last week.
Listed prices for other medium and heavy rare earth oxides were left unchanged for the week. Prices of dysprosium oxide, for example, held steady at 1.95 million yuan/mt, with prices of gadolinium oxide at 175,000 yuan/mt and samarium oxide at 12,000 yuan/mt, both flat on the week.
SMM assessments also showed that spot prices of terbium oxide and terbium metal performed strongly in the recent week, propelled by low inventories, limited supply, and market expectations of national stockpiling.
Spot prices of terbium oxide came in at 4.55-4.63 million yuan/mt as of June 23, up 55,000 yuan/mt on the day and up 90,000 yuan/mt on the week, SMM assessed. Prices of terbium oxide have climbed since May 14, when prices stood at 3.875 million yuan/mt.
In the light rare earth market, prices of praseodymium-neodymium oxide started to recover last Friday, but trading volumes failed to expand. As of June 23, spot prices of praseodymium-neodymium oxide posted 286,000-290,000 yuan/mt, up 5,000 yuan/mt from June 18.
