China’s exports of rare earth magnets recovered to hit a six-month high in July, showing trade flows of the critical minerals key to electric vehicles have returned to levels seen before Beijing imposed export curbs.
Exports from the world’s largest rare earth magnet supplier rose nearly 75% from June to hit the highest for a single month since January at 5,577 metric tons last month, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Wednesday.
The July volume, which was in line with analysts’ expectations, was also 5.7% higher than 5,278 tons shipped in the same month last year.
The continued recovery in exports came after Beijing agreed to a series of deals with the United States and Europe to increase shipments and ease the export control imposed in April in retaliation for U.S. tariffs.
Shipments declined sharply in April and May due to lengthy approval processes for securing export licences, upending global supply chains and forcing some automakers outside China to halt some production due to a rare earths shortage.
By country, Germany remained the No.1 export destination with a volume of 1,116 tons, up 46% from the prior month.
Outbound shipments to the United States last month also jumped by 75.5% from the month before to 619 tons, 4.8% higher than the same month in 2024.
In the first seven months of this year, China’s exports of rare earth magnets totaled 27,897 tons, with the annual fall narrowing to 15% from 18.9% for the first half.
(Reporting by Amy Lv and Lewis Jackson; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Sonali Paul)
