Last weekend, supported by the positive news of the release of national rare earth management regulations, rare earth oxide prices rose rapidly. Rare earth metal plants followed suit to raise their quotations. The offer of Pr-Nd alloy increased from 445,000-448,000 yuan/mt to nearly 460,000 yuan/mt, and that of dysprosium-iron alloy rose from 1.67 million yuan/mt to 1.81 million yuan/mt.
However, the support from the news faded quickly. The release of the management regulations did not impact the current market supply and demand. The sluggish downstream demand could not support the rapid rise in raw material prices, and high-priced transactions in the market were limited. This led to a significant decline in rare earth prices this week, with rare earth metal market quotations returning to last Friday's levels.
Currently, the order prices for magnet materials are generally 20,000-30,000 yuan/mt lower than the spot prices of Pr-Nd alloy. The market competition was quite fierce, and the operating rate of some small and medium-sized magnet material factories in June declined compared to May. End-user orders in July were lower than expected. With the lack of demand support, rare earth metal prices are expected to be under pressure in the future.
