China’s rare earth exports rose 9% in October from September, customs data showed on Friday, the first month-on-month increase after three straight months of declines.
China, the world’s largest rare earth exporter, sold 4,343.5 metric tons of rare earths in October, data from the General Administration of Customs showed.
The data was aggregated, so it was not clear which products and countries recorded higher imports in October. A complete breakdown will be released on November 20.
On October 9, China unveiled a sweeping expansion of its rare earth export controls that were initially rolled out in April, covering five new elements and dozens of pieces of refining technology.
But after US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping met in Busan, South Korea, on October 30, Trump said they reached an agreement to keep rare earth exports from China flowing. Shortly after that, Beijing said it would pause the October 9 export controls for a year, though the restrictions from April – which led to shortages in global auto supply chains – appeared to remain in place.
For the year-to-date period, exports were 52,699.2 tons, up 10.5% from a year earlier.
(By Colleen Howe; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Thomas Derpinghaus)
