China to remove import tariff on US rare earth ores

The Chinese government will remove a 25pc tariff on US imports of rare earth metal ores from 19 May.

Tariffs on US imports of polycrystalline silicon, nickel alloys and titanium pipes will also be removed. The changes will be in place for a year until 18 May 2021.

The cancellation of import tariffs on these US imports is expected to ease financial pressure on and reduce production costs for most rare earth separation and processing plants in China. It is also expected to prompt Chinese importers to increase rare earth ore purchases from the US.

China has maintained its 25pc import tariff on rare earth metal ores from the US since 1 June last year, up from 10pc previously. But there has been little market impact, with Chinese imports of rare earth metal ores from the US rising to 46,149t last year — up by 67pc from 27,567t in 2018 — driven by firmer demand from domestic rare earth separation plants and magnetic material manufacturers.

Chinese imports of rare earth ores from the US climbed to 7,352t in March, up by 403pc from a year earlier but down by 53pc from January-February this year. January-March imports of rare earth metal ores from the US increased by 324pc from a year earlier to 23,088t.

China accounts for more than 90pc of global supplies of rare earths, while the US imports 70-80pc of rare earth oxides and metals from China.

The de-escalation of the US-China trade war is expected to stabilise global financial markets and prevent China's economic growth from slowing further, in turn stabilising rare earths demand from downstream industries in the long term.