SMM March 2 News: In February 2025, domestic NdFeB magnetic material production decreased by approximately 3% MoM, reflecting the combined impact of multiple factors. According to SMM's survey report, magnetic material enterprises gradually resumed work and production in early February after the Chinese New Year holiday. However, one of the biggest challenges during the initial resumption phase was the insufficient employee return rate, leading to a slower recovery in capacity.
The Chinese New Year holiday is the most important traditional festival in China, typically accompanied by extensive travel and long holiday arrangements. Many workers return to their hometowns to reunite with family during this period, resulting in significant personnel allocation pressure for enterprises after the holiday. In fact, due to this reason, enterprise capacity only gradually returned to normal levels after the Lantern Festival.
However, the rare earth market after the resumption did not immediately bring favorable news to enterprises. Affected by tight raw material supply, rare earth prices rose rapidly after the holiday, imposing additional cost pressure on downstream NdFeB magnetic material enterprises. Nevertheless, downstream purchasing sentiment remained cautious, and market trading activity was relatively low. This cautious attitude mainly stemmed from end-use market demand growing at a slower-than-expected pace, prompting downstream customers to adopt a more conservative approach to procurement.
In the face of an uncertain market environment, magnetic material enterprises demonstrated rationality in production arrangements, focusing primarily on fulfilling long-term contract orders. Although February's magnetic material production still showed a declining trend, the overall decline narrowed due to the gradual recovery of capacity in the later period. This phenomenon highlights the industry's resilience in addressing short-term challenges.
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Looking ahead to March, the market is expected to improve overall. With employees fully returning to work, enterprise capacity is anticipated to be fully restored, and downstream market demand is likely to gradually recover. Against this backdrop, NdFeB permanent magnet material production is expected to achieve some growth. However, given the judgment of relatively slow market demand growth, this increase may not be significant.
Overall, the performance of the rare earth market in February reflected the complexity of economic operations and the strategic adjustments enterprises made to adapt to the new normal and address challenges. In the future, as the market gradually stabilizes, enterprises are likely to seize recovery opportunities more steadily and seek new breakthroughs in technological innovation and market expansion.
