April 2 News:
Rare Earth Ores:
Today, the price range of rare earth carbonate was 58,400-59,000 yuan/mt, monazite prices were adjusted to 4.95-5.35 yuan/mt, and medium-yttrium, europium-rich ore was priced at about 239,000-241,000 yuan/mt. Recently, trading sentiment in the rare earth ore market remained sluggish, with overall transaction volume relatively small. Separation plants showed weak purchase willingness, and actual transaction prices for rare earth ore remained low.
Rare Earth Oxides:
Lanthanum oxide prices rose slightly this week, adjusting to 5,000-5,500 yuan/mt. Supply in the cerium oxide market remained tight, but actual transaction prices were slightly under pressure at present. Recently, the market stayed in a high-level consolidation phase, with prices adjusted to 14,000-14,500 yuan/mt during the week. The Pr-Nd oxide market as a whole continued to hold up well. Against expectations of tight supply and pronounced fluctuations in futures prices, upstream suppliers kept raising offers, while low-priced cargoes tightened rapidly, pushing Pr-Nd oxide prices up to 722,000-728,000 yuan/mt. In the medium-heavy rare earth segment, demand in the dysprosium oxide market remained weak, and downstream buyers pushed for lower prices aggressively. This week, dysprosium oxide quotes edged down to 1.36-1.37 million yuan/mt. The terbium oxide market was relatively sluggish this week, with both market quotations and inquiry activity at relatively low levels. Back-and-forth negotiations between upstream and downstream remained in stalemate, and prices temporarily held steady at 6.06-6.1 million yuan/mt during the week. Affected by market news, confidence in the gadolinium oxide market improved significantly, making low-priced cargoes hard to find, and quotations were raised to 215,000-220,000 yuan/mt. Holmium oxide quotations continued to edge down this week, with prices lowered to the 535,000-540,000 yuan/mt range. Suppliers of erbium oxide held firm on offers, but downstream purchasing weakened, and some suppliers lowered prices slightly to make shipments, with prices marginally adjusted to 397,000-405,000 yuan/mt this week. Yttrium oxide market prices remained relatively stable this week, temporarily holding at 70,000-73,000 yuan/mt.
Rare Earth Metals:
This week, cerium metal prices were lowered to 34,500-35,000 yuan/mt, driven by a pullback in raw material prices. Pr-Nd alloy prices were raised to 880,000-895,000 yuan/mt, mainly affected by the continued increase in raw material prices. Metal enterprises correspondingly raised quotations, but as downstream magnetic material enterprises faced less-than-optimistic order conditions and had limited ability to absorb high-priced metal, procurement still mainly focused on restocking for immediate needs, while inquiry prices remained relatively low. Back-and-forth negotiations between upstream and downstream in the metal market were intense and stagnant, and actual trading performance was poor. In the medium-heavy rare earth market, dysprosium-iron alloy was quoted at 1.32-1.34 million yuan/mt. Although inquiry activity improved somewhat mid-week due to market news, overall market price fluctuations remained relatively small. Terbium metal prices remained stable at 7.55-7.6 million yuan/mt, mainly affected by the continued stability of oxide prices. In addition, actual market trading did not improve significantly, and prices generally moved steadily. Gadolinium-iron alloy prices first fell and then rose, mainly driven by market news that pushed up gadolinium oxide prices. Supported by costs, suppliers raised offers to 210,000-215,000 yuan/mt.
Rare Earth Permanent Magnets:
At present, NdFeB blank N38 (Ce) was quoted at 235-245 yuan/kg; NdFeB blank 40M was quoted at 281-291 yuan/kg; NdFeB blank 40H was quoted at 285-295 yuan/kg; and NdFeB blank 45SH (ce) was quoted at 335-355 yuan/kg.
In terms of prices, NdFeB prices edged up this week, mainly because slight increases in the prices of Pr-Nd oxide and metal, the raw materials for NdFeB, pushed up external quotations for NdFeB. In terms of actual transactions, deal prices for various NdFeB grades in the current market were still somewhat below quoted prices. On the trading side, market activity recovered somewhat this week. On the one hand, the recent stability in Pr-Nd alloy prices helped keep NdFeB prices stable, giving motor manufacturers the confidence to replenish stocks. On the other hand, multiple downstream terminal sectors together drove a recovery in overall market trading volume.
Rare Earth Scrap:
This week, Pr-Nd recycled from NdFeB scrap was quoted at 720-725 yuan/kg; dysprosium recycled from NdFeB scrap was quoted at 1,300-1,320 yuan/kg; and terbium recycled from NdFeB scrap was quoted at 5,800-6,000 yuan/kg.
This week, scrap prices generally showed a slight upward trend, mainly driven by the recovery in Pr-Nd oxide prices, which led recycling enterprises to correspondingly raise purchase quotations for Pr-Nd from scrap. As some raw ore separation enterprises planned to suspend production, sentiment in the oxide market to hold prices firm and withhold sales was strong, driving prices to begin rising. Given that the current supply of tax-included scrap had not improved significantly, scrap suppliers maintained strong wait-and-see sentiment and showed weak willingness to sell at low prices. Recycling enterprises correspondingly raised order-signing quotations, and trading in the scrap market recovered somewhat.
