Market inquiries were sluggish, and rare earth prices remained in the doldrums [SMM Rare Earth Weekly Review]

October 23:

Rare Earth Ore:

Today, the price range for rare earth carbonate was 40,900-41,100 yuan/mt, monazite prices adjusted to 47,500-48,500 yuan/mt, and medium-yttrium, europium-rich ore prices were around 201,000-203,000 yuan/mt. According to feedback from ore suppliers, shipments of ion-adsorption ore remained difficult, with TC rising above 25,000 yuan/mt, but separation plants' purchase willingness remained low.

Rare Earth Oxides:

Currently, lanthanum oxide prices held steady at 4,300-4,700 yuan/mt, cerium oxide prices remained stable this week at 11,000-11,600 yuan/mt, with cerium oxide prices expected to continue rising in the future amid tight market supply. Pr-Nd oxide prices remained in the doldrums recently; as of today, they fell to 505,000-507,000 yuan/mt due to persistently weak downstream demand, low market inquiry and procurement activity, suppliers' reduced confidence leading to lower offers, and actual transaction prices for Pr-Nd oxide continuously declining. Due to persistently poor demand, medium-heavy rare earth market prices overall trended weakly; dysprosium oxide prices started to fall this week, with major plants' procurement intensity significantly decreasing, its price pulling back to 1.58-1.62 million yuan/mt. Terbium oxide market inquiry activity remained sluggish, with trader offers as low as 6.8-6.85 million yuan/mt. Holmium oxide prices further declined this week to 500,000-505,000 yuan/mt, while erbium oxide prices recently held up slightly stronger to the range of 336,000-338,000 yuan/mt. Yttrium oxide prices also adjusted slightly this week to 45,000-47,000 yuan/mt.

Rare Earth Metals:

Currently, Pr-Nd alloy was quoted at 612,000-618,000 yuan/mt, showing a slight decrease from the beginning of the week. Early in the week, major magnetic material enterprises concentrated tenders for Pr-Nd alloy, improving overall market inquiry activity and stabilizing prices; however, after concentrated procurement ended, market inquiries weakened compared to the week's start, leading to a slight price decrease. Downstream magnetic material enterprises mostly adopted a wait-and-see attitude, making just-in-time procurement. For medium-heavy rare earths, terbium metal was quoted at 8.45-8.5 million yuan/mt, and dysprosium-iron alloy at 1.53-1.55 million yuan/mt. Due to persistently weak downstream procurement demand and declining oxide prices, some metal enterprises, under dual pressure from lack of cost support and sluggish market demand, weakened confidence in future prices and actively lowered offers, but actual transactions did not show significant improvement.

Rare Earth Permanent Magnets

Currently, NdFeB blank N38 (Ce) was quoted at 193-203 yuan/kg; NdFeB blank 40M price was quoted at 239-249 yuan/kg; NdFeB blank 40H price was quoted at 243-253 yuan/kg; NdFeB blank 45SH (ce) price was quoted at 293-313 yuan/kg.

This week, the NdFeB permanent magnet market experienced a decline in both prices and volume. The core driver of the price decrease was the continued weakness in raw material prices, such as upstream praseodymium-neodymium oxide, which directly weakened cost support for magnetic materials. Demand side, performance was sluggish, with traditional domestic sectors like wind power and air conditioning in the off-season this week, and NEV growth also slowing down, leading to insufficient operating rates among motor enterprises and low purchase willingness. This, in turn, affected the magnetic materials segment, resulting in low market trading activity. Additionally, the new export control policy released over the weekend intensified market wait-and-see sentiment. Against the backdrop of high uncertainty in domestic and overseas orders, magnetic material enterprises generally tended to cautiously control their sales pace. Overall, weakened raw material support, sluggish end-use demand, and policy uncertainty collectively contributed to the weak market pattern this week.

Rare Earth Scrap:

This week, Pr-Nd recycled from NdFeB scrap was quoted at 530-540 yuan/kg; dysprosium recycled from NdFeB scrap was quoted at 1,620-1,643 yuan/kg; terbium recycled from NdFeB scrap was quoted at 5,439-5,550 yuan/kg.

This week, scrap market prices fluctuated at lows. As oxide market prices continued to trade at low levels, scrap prices stabilized at lows, leading to weak willingness to sell among scrap suppliers and stagnant overall market trading, reducing the overall circulation volume in the scrap market. Mid-week, as oxide trading recovered somewhat, recycling enterprises correspondingly raised their offers to ensure normal scrap procurement. However, as oxide market trading reached a stalemate, recycling enterprises lacked confidence in the future market and showed weak willingness to purchase at high prices, causing scrap prices to decline. Overall, poor oxide market trading conditions led to weak purchasing willingness for high-priced scrap among recycling enterprises, resulting in scrap prices fluctuating at lows.