Beijing confirmed on Thursday that it has begun granting general licences with lengthier terms for exports of rare earth elements to foreign companies, though business groups said more guidance was needed on the policy’s implementation.
“With the accumulation of relevant export compliance experience, some exporters have initially met the basic requirements to apply for general licences,” said He Yadong, a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce (Mofcom), at a press conference.
“To my knowledge, some Chinese exporters’ applications for general licences have already been received and approved.”
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No further details were provided on the exact terms of the licences or the number issued.
The remarks came after the European Commission’s trade chief, Maros Sefcovic, said on Monday that some European companies were obtaining the first general rare earth export licences from Chinese authorities, which would allow for repeated shipments of the critical minerals over a period of time to pre-approved buyers.
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“We are getting initial reports from our industry that they are getting these general licences but we need to have a little bit more granular information to evaluate the whole process,” Sefcovic said in an interview with Bloomberg.