Market Confidence Remains Weak in the Aftermarket, Rare Earth Prices Continue to Decline [SMM Rare Earth Weekly Review]

November 13 News:

Rare Earth Ore:

Today, the price range for rare earth carbonate was 43,800-44,100 yuan/mt, monazite prices adjusted to 50,000-51,500 yuan/mt, and medium-yttrium, europium-rich ore prices were around 205,000-207,000 yuan/mt. Currently, the rare earth raw material market prices showed a fluctuating trend within a narrow range. Due to persistently low capacity utilization rates at separation enterprises, overall trading activity in the rare earth ore market remained insufficient.

Rare Earth Oxides:

Recently, lanthanum oxide and cerium oxide prices fluctuated relatively small, with lanthanum oxide prices temporarily stable at 4,300-4,700 yuan/mt, and cerium oxide prices also temporarily stable this week at 11,200-12,000 yuan/mt. Currently, the lanthanum-cerium market was relatively calm, with relatively small price fluctuations. Pr-Nd oxide prices generally trended downward this week. Influenced by news factors, suppliers' expectations for the future of Pr-Nd oxide decreased significantly, with some traders actively offering goods at low prices. Downstream buyers' purchase willingness decreased under the sentiment of rushing to buy amid continuous price rise and holding back amid price downturn, resulting in poor actual transaction conditions for Pr-Nd oxide. As of today, Pr-Nd oxide prices pulled back to 541,000-544,000 yuan/mt. This week, dysprosium oxide quotations generally operated in the doldrums. Although quotations from top-tier enterprises were relatively firm, with low market purchase activity, some traders sold at low prices, gradually lowering dysprosium oxide prices to 1.49-1.53 million yuan/mt. The terbium oxide market also trended downward overall with declining downstream purchase activity. As of now, its quotations decreased to 6.55-6.6 million yuan/mt. Holmium oxide market prices also continued to operate weakly this week, with its price today ranging between 495,000-500,000 yuan/mt, and erbium oxide prices remained stable within the 336,000-338,000 yuan/mt range. Yttrium oxide prices remained stable this week at 45,000-47,000 yuan/mt, with market fluctuations still relatively small.

Rare Earth Metals:

This week, Pr-Nd alloy prices continued to decline. As of now, Pr-Nd alloy prices decreased to 663,000-667,000 yuan/mt. At the beginning of the week, supported by Pr-Nd oxide costs, metal enterprises' quotations were relatively firm, and market prices operated steadily. However, downstream purchase demand remained persistently weak, market inquiries were sluggish, and actual transaction conditions operated weakly. Although several large magnetic material manufacturers purchased Pr-Nd alloy mid-week, the actual transaction prices were low, lowering market transaction expectations. Simultaneously, coupled with continuously declining Pr-Nd oxide prices, under dual pressure from lack of cost support and weak downstream purchase demand, some suppliers lacked confidence in the future market, actively reducing prices to sell, leading to continued weakening of Pr-Nd alloy processing, but market trading conditions did not improve. Medium-heavy rare earth market, terbium metal was quoted at 8.15-8.2 million yuan/mt, and dysprosium-iron alloy was quoted at 1.47-1.49 million yuan/mt. This week, inquiries in the medium-heavy rare earth market were sluggish. Although oxide prices continued to weaken, due to losses, metal enterprises kept their overall offers relatively firm, with relatively small price reductions, and market prices remained low.

Rare earth permanent magnets:

Currently, NdFeB blank N38 (Ce) was quoted at 191-201 yuan/kg; NdFeB blank 40M was quoted at 237-247 yuan/kg; NdFeB blank 40H was quoted at 241-251 yuan/kg; NdFeB blank 45SH (Ce) was quoted at 291-311 yuan/kg.

This week, NdFeB prices rose first and then fell, with moderate trading activity. At the beginning of the week, influenced by market news, prices of Pr-Nd oxide and metal, core raw materials for NdFeB, rose significantly, increasing the production cost of NdFeB permanent magnets. In the latter half of the week, as end-user transactions continued to weaken, prices continued to pull back. In terms of transactions, rigid purchase demand from domestic motors and end-users had already ended this week, and domestic trading volume showed a trend of being generally stable with a slight fall. At the same time, coupled with overseas customers entering the industrial stockpiling off-season, overall trading activity in the NdFeB market decreased significantly.

Rare earth scrap:

This week, Pr-Nd recycled from NdFeB scrap was quoted at 573-578 yuan/kg; dysprosium recycled from NdFeB scrap was quoted at 1,500-1,520 yuan/kg; terbium recycled from NdFeB scrap was quoted at 5,300-5,500 yuan/kg.

This week, scrap market prices pulled back after a slight rise, but prices still rose slightly WoW. At the beginning of the week, driven by positive market news, scrap market prices rose slightly, and recycling enterprises' purchase willingness increased, raising their scrap purchase offers. However, boosted by market confidence, scrap suppliers adopted a wait-and-see attitude, and market trading was weak. But by mid-week, influenced by news factors, oxide prices began to weaken, and some suppliers lacked confidence in the future market, leading to an increased willingness to sell scrap. Meanwhile, purchasing by recycling enterprises improved relatively, but as oxide prices continued to fall, recycling enterprises were less willing to purchase at high prices, mostly adopting a strategy of seeking lower prices. The circulation volume of scrap in the market increased, and overall trading improved.

》Free Trial Application for SMM Metal Industry Chain Database