Benchmark begins public consultation on increasing frequency for rare earth prices to every two weeks and to update specification for CIF Europe & North America PrNd Oxide

Benchmark Mineral Intelligence announced today that it has started a formal public consultation on changes to its Rare Earths Price Assessment Methodology.

Increased frequency

Growing activity in the global rare earth market has led shorter-term price fluctuations, created greater transparency in spot transactions and increased the availability of verifiable data to support more regular price publication.

To reflect these changes, Benchmark proposes to increase the publication frequency of selected rare earth oxide price assessments from monthly to every two weeks, covering the DDP China, CIF Europe and CIF North America grades. Higher frequency publication will provide a more representative and timely assessment of market movements, supporting participants that rely on Benchmark’s prices for procurement, sales, and contract indexation.

Following feedback and discussions with active market participants, Benchmark plans to publish relevant rare earth oxide price assessments every other Thursday by 4pm (London), starting from 27 November 2025. Prices currently assessed on a monthly basis will move to an alternate-Thursday schedule.

As trading volumes in the rare earth oxide market continue to grow, Benchmark considers higher frequency reporting essential to capturing intra-month price movements and improving overall market transparency.

Evolution of assessed product forms

Benchmark is proposing to revise the purity specification for its CIF North America and CIF Europe PrNd oxide assessments.

The current specification of Pr >22%, Nd >70% will be adjusted to a Pr >20% minimum, with Nd purity remaining the same. This change ensures the assessment captures traded material more accurately in emerging markets outside China.

Market feedback has highlighted that ex-China PrNd oxide typically has a Pr ratio closer to 20% rather than 25%, reflecting the natural Nd:Pr distribution in projects being developed to serve international magnet supply chains.

By aligning the assessment spec with this trade reality, Benchmark will provide a more representative reflection of market-forming ex-China PrNd oxide transactions, supporting transparency as Western supply chains scale up

Benchmark invites feedback on the proposed increase in publication frequency and specification changes from all active participants involved in rare earth production, trading, and consumption.

Benchmark Price Assessments – contact us:

The proposed changes would impact the following grades currently collected by Benchmark:

Benchmark invites feedback from active market participants by the latest 24 November 2025.

Comments are welcomed via submission to: prices@benchmarkminerals.com