SHANGHAI, Sep 5 (SMM) - The domestic rare earth market was still under great pressure last week, and the prices of rare earth products continued to fall. The buyers were not active, and the trading volume remained low except for some restocking in small amounts. In addition to PrNd products, the prices of dysprosium, terbium, gadolinium, holmium and other products have all corrected to varying degrees, and the market sentiment was very optimistic.
As of September 2, the SMM transaction price of PrNd oxide stood at 595,000-600,000 yuan/mt, down 37,500 yuan/mt from last Friday; dysprosium oxide 2,160-2,170 yuan/kg, down 25 yuan/kg; terbium oxide 12.7-12.8 million yuan/mt, down 350,000 yuan/mt; PrNd alloy 730,000-740,000 yuan/mt, down 30,000 yuan/mt; dysprosium-terbium alloy 2,150-2,160 yuan/kg, down 25 yuan/kg; terbium metal 16.4-16.5 million yuan/mt, down 450,000 yuan/mt; gadolinium oxide 260,000-270,000 yuan/mt, down 20,000 yuan/mt; lanthanum and cerium products were relatively stable.
At present, the new orders of downstream magnetic material companies have not improved significantly, and the restocking behaviour was weaker than a week week ago, and prices were still running under pressure recently. Along with the correction of PrNd products prices, the animation of strongly related products such as dysprosium, terbium, gadolinium, and holmium has declined simultaneously, and the prices continued to decline as well. Although the separation plants were not willing to cut prices, the prices fell as the terminal demand was poor and the metal factories stood wait-and-see.
Different from the forced price adjustment of separation plants, the traders were slightly more flexible and had more frequent price adjustments. The separation plants mainly traded in the form of long-term orders, and refused to quote or ship when the market price is not ideal. However, the willingness of metal factories to purchase was also poor, and the actual transaction price also dropped from the week before. In addition, many metal factories' centralised purchases around month-end have been completed in the first half of last week.
Similar to the situation of PrNd products, the prices of middle and heavy rare earths also fell. The prices of gadolinium products dropped significantly amid pressure due to poor demand and sluggish transactions. The prices of holmium oxide also corrected significantly, with dysprosium and terbium trailing the moves.
SMM believes that the recent pessimism in the rare earth market may extend. After learning that the actual transaction did not increase in volume after the prices were lowered last week, it can be seen that the downstream market was still looking for and waiting for lower quotations. In addition, after the centralised restocking last week, the rigid demand has been largely fulfilled, and it is difficult to see more purchase behaviour in the short term. The main downstream areas of rare earth magnetic materials such as new energy vehicles, wind power, and air conditioners have not seen any improvement in their consumption. It is expected that the prices of major domestic rare earth products will remain under pressure this week.
