50 Specialty Metals Under Supply Threat

Resource Investor reports on an interview with Emerging Trends Report Managing Editor Richard Karn.

Mr. Karn is quoted as saying,

Today, free marketeers are in denial about what they have wrought; so, they are clinging to slogans like, “Market Forces Will Prevail,” while they scramble to secure supplies of these metals. On the other hand, the neomercantilists have arrived at the happy situation wherein they have near-monopolistic control of a whole range of metals – not just REEs – and they are openly pressing their advantage. We were somewhat surprised last year by the market’s reaction to China’s announcement that it would severely curtail the availability of REEs. The country had been incrementally reducing production, making regular cuts to export volumes and increasing export taxes for years. But in the whimsical ways of the market, none of that mattered at all until it suddenly became paramount. We actually had been expecting such an announcement pertaining to antimony, tungsten, graphite, indium or germanium rather than REEs—all of which are, incidentally, also largely controlled by China and ended up being included in its strategic reverse.

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