Rare Earth Prices Raised Across the Board, Downstream Purchasing Turns Cautious [SMM Rare Earth Weekly Review]

January 8 (SMM) -

Rare Earth Ore:

Today, the price range for rare earth carbonate was 50,600-51,000 yuan/mt, monazite prices adjusted to 5.55-5.65 yuan/mt, and medium-yttrium, europium-rich ore prices were around 222,000-224,000 yuan/mt. Recently, although separation enterprises gradually resumed operations, their enthusiasm for purchasing ion-adsorption ore did not significantly improve. Downstream buyers continued to push for lower prices, and suppliers, facing high cost pressure, showed poor willingness to sell.

Rare Earth Oxides:

Recently, lanthanum oxide prices remained stable, holding steady at 4,300-4,700 yuan/mt, and cerium oxide prices also continued to stabilize at 11,000-12,000 yuan/mt this week. Pr-Nd oxide prices rose rapidly this week, driven by tight upstream supply and active procurement by leading large enterprises. As a result, suppliers quickly raised their offers, and transaction prices for Pr-Nd oxide surged to 625,000-630,000 yuan/mt within the week. Trading activity in the medium-heavy rare earth market increased noticeably this week. Due to rising downstream usage and news-driven factors, inquiries for dysprosium oxide surged, and low-priced supplies tightened quickly. As of today, transaction prices for dysprosium oxide were raised to 1.49-1.51 million yuan/mt. Influenced by news factors, market confidence in terbium oxide also improved significantly, with offers rebounding to 6.25-6.3 million yuan/mt. Holmium oxide prices rose along with increased downstream inquiry activity, climbing to the range of 505,000-508,000 yuan/mt. Procurement volume for erbium oxide also saw a slight rebound, and as of today, transaction prices edged up to 355,000-358,000 yuan/mt. Yttrium oxide prices rose again this week, with suppliers holding firm offers and low-priced supplies becoming scarce; prices adjusted to 51,000-55,000 yuan/mt this week.

Rare Earth Metals:

This week, Pr-Nd alloy prices continued to rise, reaching 755,000-765,000 yuan/mt so far. Driven by macro policy news, market sentiment turned bullish rapidly, and coupled with rising raw material costs, Pr-Nd alloy prices kept climbing. However, downstream magnetic material enterprises had limited acceptance of high-priced metals, leading to sluggish transactions in the Pr-Nd alloy market. In the medium-heavy rare earth market, dysprosium-iron alloy prices were reported at 1.45-1.48 million yuan/mt. Influenced by bullish sentiment and rising dysprosium oxide prices, metal enterprises significantly raised their offers. But as prices surged quickly, downstream procurement turned cautious, resulting in a stalemate in transactions. Driven by a significant increase in raw material costs, the price of terbium metal rose rapidly to 7.8-7.85 million yuan/mt. However, downstream acceptance of high prices was limited, leading to sluggish market transactions. Gadolinium-iron alloy was influenced by the rising price of Pr-Nd, with suppliers showing strong bullish sentiment. Supported by the increase in gadolinium oxide prices, its price was raised to 165,000-167,000 yuan/mt.

Rare Earth Permanent Magnets:

Currently, the price of NdFeB blank N38 (Ce) was quoted at 203-213 yuan/kg; NdFeB blank 40M was quoted at 249-259 yuan/kg; NdFeB blank 40H was quoted at 253-263 yuan/kg; NdFeB blank 45SH (Ce) was quoted at 303-323 yuan/kg.

This week, NdFeB prices saw a slight increase, primarily due to the continuous rise in the price of praseodymium-neodymium oxide, the raw material for NdFeB, which drove up the price of NdFeB magnetic materials. In terms of transactions, market activity was moderate. On one hand, persistently high raw material prices led to strong wait-and-see sentiment among end-users. Additionally, as the year-end approached, the pace of terminal projects slowed down, magnetic material inventory remained high, and stockpiling willingness was low. These factors collectively resulted in slow demand release, leading to generally moderate trading activity in the NdFeB market.

Rare Earth Scrap:

This week, the price of Pr-Nd recycled from NdFeB scrap was quoted at 620-630 yuan/kg; dysprosium recycled from NdFeB scrap was quoted at 1,330-1,350 yuan/kg; terbium recycled from NdFeB scrap was quoted at 5,300-5,500 yuan/kg.

This week, scrap market prices showed a rapid upward trend, mainly influenced by recycling enterprises adjusting scrap recovery rates and processing fees, as well as fluctuations in oxide market prices. At the beginning of the week, recycling enterprises raised scrap recovery rates while lowering settlement processing fees, leading to a slight decrease in scrap procurement offers. However, under the influence of macro policy news, bullish sentiment in the oxide market intensified, driving oxide prices up rapidly. In response, recycling enterprises raised their scrap procurement offers, suppliers' willingness to sell increased, and overall trading activity in the scrap market improved.