China’s exports of permanent magnets to the European Union saw a sharp rebound in November, as Beijing confirmed last week it has begun granting general licences with lengthier terms for overseas shipments of the magnets, which contain valuable rare earth elements and are essential components in numerous hi-tech items.
Last month’s total export volume of the magnets to the EU increased 59.5 per cent year on year to 2,568.8 tonnes, according to figures released on Saturday by China’s General Administration of Customs. The corresponding export value went up 60.3 per cent year on year, reaching US$106.85 million.
On a month-on-month basis, export volume of the magnets to the EU increased 24.7 per cent.
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While the issuance of the first batch of general rare earth export licences – allowing repeated shipments of the critical minerals and the products containing them over a designated period of time – appears to have prompted the increase in shipments to Europe, exports to the United States did not see a similar rise.
The data showed that shipment volume of permanent magnets to the US dropped 8.84 per cent year on year last month to 581.8 tonnes, while export value increased 4.2 per cent year on year to US$26.74 million.
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China’s global export volume of permanent magnets increased 28.29 per cent year on year to 6,149.95 tonnes in November, with their value increasing 37.8 per cent to US$301.8 million.