Rare Earth Prices Fluctuate Downward, Actual Market Transactions Stagnate [SMM Rare Earth Weekly Review]

August 28 News:

Rare Earth Ore:

Today, the price range for rare earth carbonate is 48,600-49,200 yuan/mt, monazite prices have been adjusted to 56,500-57,500 yuan/mt, and medium-yttrium, europium-rich ore prices are around 225,000-227,000 yuan/mt. Currently, due to low imports of ion-adsorption type rare earth ore, suppliers' willingness to sell at low prices is not high, but separation plants are not very active in purchasing, leading to intense back-and-forth negotiations between upstream and downstream.

Rare Earth Oxides:

At present, lanthanum oxide prices are temporarily stable at 4,300-4,900 yuan/mt, cerium oxide prices this week are stable at 10,500-11,000 yuan/mt, and lanthanum and cerium prices remain relatively stable this week. This week, Pr-Nd oxide prices showed a pullback trend; on one hand, as the market price of Pr-Nd oxide rose rapidly, downstream purchase willingness gradually decreased. On the other hand, influenced by news, traders' confidence in the future weakened, and they began to dump goods at lower prices, with Pr-Nd oxide prices pulling back to 600,000-608,000 yuan/mt within the week. For medium-heavy rare earths, gadolinium oxide prices started to pull back along with Pr-Nd prices this week. Under the "rush to buy amid continuous price rise and hold back amid price downturn" sentiment, the procurement activity of dysprosium-iron alloy producers has decreased, and current prices have pulled back to 175,000-177,000 yuan/mt. Dysprosium oxide and terbium oxide prices were relatively stable this week. Although top-tier enterprises purchased dysprosium oxide this week, it did not cause significant fluctuations in prices. Erbium oxide market prices were relatively stable this week, still maintaining a price range of 330,000-334,000 yuan/mt. Yttrium oxide prices remained stable at 48,000-50,000 yuan/mt this week, with no significant fluctuations.

Rare Earth Metals:

This week, Pr-Nd alloy closed at 745,000-750,000 yuan/mt, slightly weaker than the beginning of the week. This is mainly due to the impact of macro news, weakening the market's bullish sentiment, hindering price increases, and making high-price transactions difficult. However, affected by the price increase intentions of top-tier metal enterprises, metal enterprises' willingness to sell at low prices is weak, and the market transactions are rather stagnant, with only a small amount of restocking purchases based on rigid demand. At the same time, large-scale magnetic material factory tender purchases provide demand support for Pr-Nd alloy prices. In the short term, Pr-Nd alloy prices may run steadily. For medium-heavy rare earths, terbium metal closed at 8.68-8.75 million yuan/mt, and dysprosium-iron alloy closed at 1.56-1.58 million yuan/mt. Affected by the weak procurement demand from downstream magnetic material enterprises, market prices have shown a slight decline. The inquiry for medium-heavy metals such as dysprosium and terbium is sluggish, and metal enterprises' willingness to quote is weak, with limited actual market transactions. However, as oxide prices tend to stabilize, the quotations for medium-heavy metals like dysprosium and terbium have stopped falling and stabilized.

Rare Earth Permanent Magnets:

NdFeB blank prices, NdFeB N38 (Ce) blanks closed at 203-213 yuan/kg; NdFeB 40M blanks closed at 249~259 yuan/kg; NdFeB 40H blanks closed at 253-263 yuan/kg; NdFeB 45SH (Ce) blanks closed at 303~323 yuan/kg.

This week, magnetic material prices continued to rise slightly, but overall trading activity remained weak, mainly due to the dual squeeze of high upstream rare earth raw material prices and low terminal acceptance. High costs forced magnetic material enterprises to raise prices passively, but terminals could not quickly absorb the price increases due to lagging industry chain transmission. Some magnetic material factories chose to gradually consume their previously accumulated low-cost inventory or suspend taking orders to control cost pressure. On the demand side, with the end of summer vacation and the completion of back-to-school stockpiling, new orders slowed down MoM. The weak recovery in industrial and consumer sectors suppressed purchase willingness, and the economic environment under pressure further intensified downstream resistance to high-priced magnetic materials, leading to an overall weak market trading activity.

Rare earth scrap:

This week, Pr-Nd recycled from NdFeB scrap was priced at 633-638 yuan/kg; dysprosium recycled from NdFeB scrap was priced at 1,620-1,643 yuan/kg; terbium recycled from NdFeB scrap was priced at 5,439-5,550 yuan/kg.

This week, scrap market prices were influenced by fluctuations in the oxide market, showing a trend of being in the doldrums. The Pr-Nd oxide market, affected by macro news, saw a pullback. Recycling companies, impacted by this, significantly reduced their procurement prices. However, due to excessive price cuts, the market's sentiment for selling was weak, affecting actual scrap procurement, and reducing the circulation of scrap in the market. Even if the oxide market recovers later, some large recycling plants are controlling their procurement volume, showing a lower willingness to quote. Market trading is weak, with a strong wait-and-see sentiment. Overall, influenced by the downward fluctuation of the oxide market, the scrap market is in the doldrums, with recycling companies being cautious about procurement, resulting in a low overall circulation of scrap. In the short term, it is expected that, influenced by the relatively stable operation of the oxide market, scrap prices may remain stable.