China’s Piece of the Rare Earth Pie Slowly Shrinking

MINING.com reported yesterday that according to a study put together by Germany’s Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources, China’s share of global rare earth production has been steadily shrinking these past few years. Currently, it produces about 92 percent of the world’s rare earths.

As quoted in the market news:

According to the Hannover-base institute, in 2010 the Asian nation covered 97.6% of worldwide demand, which means China’s piece of the pie has shortened by 5.7% in the last three years.

Profits, in turn, slumped 28% to less than $1.3 billion, as prices for the elements a used by variety of industries including green technology, defence systems and consumer electronics, continued to fall.

Click here to read the full report from MINING.com.