Rare Earth Oxide Prices Rebound from Bottom: What is the Price Outlook for Rare Earths? [SMM Analysis]

Last week, under the influence of news factors, rare earth oxide prices fluctuated downward overall. As of November 20, the rapid decline in rare earth oxide prices severely compressed the profits of separation plants, causing most of them to stop quoting prices. Under these circumstances, rare earth oxide prices began to show a rebound trend starting from the 21st. However, from the metal side, the market trend did not show significant improvement. According to SMM statistics, the daily average price of Pr-Nd alloy fell by approximately 2.6% during the week.

According to some magnetic material enterprises, recently, the orders from the end-use market have been insufficient, leading downstream enterprises to have low expectations for the future prices of rare earths. Influenced by the sentiment of rushing to buy amid continuous price rise and holding back amid price downturn, buyers have a weak willingness to restock. Although separation plants and metal plants currently quote relatively firmly, the market trading atmosphere has been sluggish under the above circumstances, resulting in low actual trading volume in the rare earth market last week. SMM believes that if the subsequent market demand release remains poor, rare earth prices are expected to run stable amid intense back-and-forth negotiations between upstream and downstream.