Wednesday, April 2, 2014

How Does Illicit Rare-Earth Smuggling Affect The Chinese Industry?

During the year 2013, the Chinese government started breaking down on the smuggling of rare earth metals. It created a huge impact on the Chinese government and they lost about 20,000 tons of rare earth oxides, which were exported illegally. This can be considered as a huge amount when compared to the countries legal rare earth oxide production of 81,000 metric tons in the same year.

From the statistical information, it has been identified that China holds about 30% of the world’s rare earth reserves. After their discovery of rare earth elements in 1980, they experienced a significant growth in the production of rare earth metals to the market, until it was cut down in 2013. According to Situation of Rare Earth Industry Economy Operation in 2013, which is the annual report of Ministry of Industry in China, the total value of the exports were estimated about 12.6 billion dollars per year. However, the Chinese government put some restrictions to their rare earth element exports and it has created a wide range of illegal activities. Most of these illegal activities rotate around crimes that target mining activities. Then these rare earth metals are exported in an illegal manner to different countries. The other countries who pioneer in motor and electronic industry prefer to import such rare earth metals because they can reduce the production cost by a great amount.

However, smuggling rare earth elements have created a huge impact on the economy of China. The Chinese government implemented these restrictions in order to experience a boost in the economy during the next few years. Unfortunately, these illegal exports have put the Chinese economy in trouble and the government is looking for a convenient solution to get rid of this hassle.

According to the reported instances, smuggling forced the government of China to cancel 161 rare earth element licenses within the year 2013. In addition, 127 different companies were orders to cease their production activities until rectification. In addition, they reduced the production quotas to fewer than 16,000 tons and they are in the process of cutting down that amount further in 2014. The government of China lost 1.3 billion dollars within 2013 and they are trying to reduce this loss caused by illegal activities during 2014 by lowering the prices. Moreover, a large number of campaigns have been started to reduce the short term effects. The responsible authorities are also forcing the government to implement necessary laws and regulate the industry as soon as possible.


About Stanford Magnets: 
Based in California, Stanford Magnets has been involved in the R&D and sales of licensed Rare-earth magnets, Neodymium magnets and SmCo magnets, ceramic magnets, flexible magnets and magnetic assemblies since the mid of 1980s. We supply all these types of magnets in a wide range of shapes, sizes and grades.

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