BEIJING (Reuters) -China’s rare earth magnet exports in October fell 5.2% from a month earlier, customs data showed on Thursday, down for a second month, but shipments to the United States surged to a nine-month high.
Beijing announced earlier this month it would suspend the rare earth export control measures it announced on October 9 for one year as part of its pledge to Washington at a summit in Busan, South Korea, in late October to de-escalate their trade war.
For October, outbound shipments from the world’s largest producer and exporter of rare earth magnets, used in a wide array of technology from cars to weapons, were 5,473 metric tons last month, data from the General Administration of Customs showed.
That was down from 5,774 tons in September but was up 15.8%from 4,725 tons in the same month in 2024.
Exports to the U.S. in October, however, jumped by 56.1% from the prior month to 656 tons, the highest since January.
China has begun designing a new rare earth licensing regime that could speed up shipments, but it is unlikely to amount to a complete rollback of restrictions as hoped by Washington, industry sources said.
By country, Germany, the U.S., South Korea, Vietnam and India were the top five export destinations for Chinese rare earth magnets by volume last month.
Year to date, China’s rare earth magnet exports totaled 45,290 tons, an annual decline of 5.2%. Exports hit a seven-month high in August.
(Reporting by Amy Lv and Lewis Jackson; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Christian Schmollinger)
