May 28 update:
Rare earth ore:
Today, the price range of rare earth carbonate was 55,200-55,700 yuan/mt, monazite prices were temporarily stable at 4.1-4.3 yuan/mt, and medium-yttrium, europium-rich ore prices were around 226,000-228,000 yuan/mt. Currently, light rare earth ore prices were in a stalemate stage recently, with poor market trading activity and relatively small overall price fluctuations. Medium-heavy rare earth side, market demand remained poor, and rare earth ore prices overall moved sideways.
Rare earth oxides:
Lanthanum oxide prices saw no fluctuations this week, remaining stable at 5,200-5,800 yuan/mt. Cerium oxide market prices also remained stable recently, holding steady within the week at 14,400-15,200 yuan/mt. Affected by futures price fluctuations combined with periodic restocking by some major plants, Pr-Nd oxide prices fluctuated relatively frequently. Upstream and downstream continued their stalemate, with suppliers maintaining relatively firm offers overall, while downstream metal plants maintained a strong wait-and-see sentiment. As of today, Pr-Nd oxide prices edged down to 682,000-688,000 yuan/mt. Heavy rare earth side, downstream dysprosium oxide inquiries continued to push for lower prices with considerable intensity, and some traders actively shipped at lower prices. This week, dysprosium oxide prices further declined to 1.24-1.25 million yuan/mt. Terbium oxide market confidence remained poor, with prices continuing in the doldrums, adjusting slightly within the week to 6.03-6.05 million yuan/mt. Gadolinium oxide prices also continued to decline, with downstream metal plants' purchase willingness remaining poor and actual market transactions being sluggish. Prices declined within the week to 200,000-205,000 yuan/mt. Holmium oxide prices also continued to edge down overall, adjusting within the week to a range of 530,000-535,000 yuan/mt. Erbium oxide suppliers' offers remained relatively stable, and as of today, erbium oxide prices remained stable within the range of 430,000-440,000 yuan/mt. Yttrium oxide market prices also held stable this week, temporarily steady at 58,000-60,000 yuan/mt.
Rare earth metals:
This week, cerium metal prices ran steadily overall, stable at 34,000-35,000 yuan/mt. Pr-Nd alloy prices this week were overall in the doldrums with narrow fluctuations. As of today, prices declined to 830,000-840,000 yuan/mt. At the beginning of the week, affected by the continued pullback in Pr-Nd oxide prices, combined with fewer downstream inquiry activities, metal enterprises continued to lower their offers. However, mid-week, some downstream magnetic material enterprises began restocking for rigid demand, boosting market trading sentiment to recover and prices stopped falling and recovered. As rigid demand restocking ended, market inquiries turned sluggish again, and prices were in the doldrums. Heavy rare earth market side, dysprosium-iron alloy closed at 1.21-1.23 million yuan/mt. Prices continued to decline this week, mainly due to persistently sluggish downstream inquiry and purchasing activities, with inquiry prices being relatively low. Suppliers continued to lower their offers, but market transactions remained scarce. Terbium metal prices fell to 7.42-7.45 million yuan/mt. Market inquiries remained sluggish this week, and combined with persistently weak raw material prices, suppliers had poor confidence in the future market and continued to lower their quotations. Gadolinium-iron alloy continued its downward trend this week. On one hand, downstream inquiries remained few and market trading was sluggish with scarce actual transactions; on the other hand, raw material prices continued to pull back, and lacking cost support, metal enterprises lowered quotations to 193,000-197,000 yuan/mt.
Rare earth permanent magnets:
Currently, NdFeB blank N38 (Ce) was quoted at 210-220 yuan/kg; NdFeB blank 40M at 256-266 yuan/kg; NdFeB blank 40H at 260-270 yuan/kg; NdFeB blank 45SH (Ce) at 310-330 yuan/kg.
In terms of prices, NdFeB prices saw notable declines this week. The core reason was that prices of NdFeB raw materials Pr-Nd oxide and metal trended downward this week, driving continuous declines in NdFeB magnetic material prices. In terms of trading, constrained by continuously falling raw material prices, motor manufacturers maintained a wait-and-see attitude toward magnetic material procurement. Combined with the terminal off-season, overall procurement demand was mediocre, and market trading was sluggish.
Rare earth scrap:
This week, Pr-Nd recycled from NdFeB scrap was quoted at 700-710 yuan/kg; dysprosium recycled from NdFeB scrap at 1,210-1,220 yuan/kg; terbium recycled from NdFeB scrap at 5,500-5,700 yuan/kg.
This week, scrap market prices generally moved sideways within a narrow range, mainly affected by frequent fluctuations in oxide prices. At the beginning of the week, oxide prices continued to weaken, and recycling enterprises lowered their scrap procurement quotations accordingly. As downstream enterprises began phased procurement, scrap prices stopped falling and recovered, driven by changes in oxide prices. However, after downstream procurement ended, scrap prices again moved in the doldrums. Currently, the circulation of tax-inclusive scrap remained low, scrap suppliers were unwilling to ship at low prices, losses on tax-inclusive scrap persisted, and actual market trading was weak.
