China raises 1H rare earths production quotas

China's industry and information technology ministry (MIIT) has raised the first batch of 2021 production quotas to 84,000t, up by 27pc from 66,000t in the same batch in 2020.

The rise in quotas is in response to stronger demand from major downstream sectors following a significant recovery in the country's economy from the impact of Covid-19.

The quotas for rare earth mining products include 72,510t for light rare earths and 11,490t for ion-absorption rare earths. China allocated a total of 66,000t for the first batch of rare earth mining quotas in 2020, comprising 56,425t of light rare earths and 9,575t of ion-absorption rare earths.

Beijing has also allocated 81,000t quotas for smelting and separation products in the first batch of this year, up by 27pc from 63,500t in 2020.

MIIT has allocated the quotas to the country's six rare earth groups — Northern Rare Earth, Southern Rare Earth, Chinalco, Xiamen Tungsten, China Minmetals and Guangdong Rare Earth — in an attempt to improve oversight of the industry and the implementation of government policy.

Northern Rare Earth obtained 44,130t mining quotas for light rare earths and 38,270t for smelting and separation products, up by 24pc from 35,375t and 25pc higher than 30,492t, respectively, from 2020.

Southern Rare Earth was awarded 19,650t mining quotas for light rare earths and 5,100t for ion-absorption, up from 13,875t and 4,250t, respectively, from last year. The company's quotas for smelting and separation products increased by 36pc to 16,267t from 11,956t.

Chinalco's light rare earth mining quotas rose to 8,730t from 7,175t in 2019, while its mining quotas for ion-absorption rare earths climbed by 20pc to 1,500t from 1,250t. The company's quotas for smelting and separation products grew by 31pc to 14,327t from 10,940t.

Xiamen Tungsten's mining quotas for ion-absorption rare earths and smelting and separation products were set at 2,064t and 2,378t, both rising by 20pc from 1,720t and 1,981t in 2020, respectively.

China Minmetals acquired 1,206t of ion-absorption rare earths and 3,395t of smelting and separation products, a 20pc increase each from 1,005t and 2,829t in 2020.

Guangdong Rare Earths received 1,620t mining quotas for ion-absorption rare earths and 6,363t quotas for smelting and separation products, up from 1,350t and 5,302t last year, respectively.