China’s Hold On Rare Earths Loosens

Although China still produces the bulk of the global supply of rare earths, its share dropped from the near monopoly it historically held to about 70% in 2014, according to a new report. Released by the Council on Foreign Relations, a think tank, the report says China’s brief trade embargo of rare-earth materials to Japan in 2010 destabilized the global market and might have inadvertently diminished China’s hold over these resources. In 2010, China produced some 97% of the world’s rare earths, which are used heavily in the manufacture of electronics. The decline in part comes from the expansion of rare-earth mining, production facilities, and reprocessing technology outside China, says report author Eugene Gholz, a professor of public affairs at the University of Texas, Austin.