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loses RE case but maintains grip","china-loses-re-case-but-maintains-grip","article/china-loses-re-case-but-maintains-grip",{"_uid":557,"date":558,"tags":559,"editor":563,"content":573,"excerpt":581,"featured":50,"reporter":734,"_editable":738,"component":739,"seo_title":553,"categories":740,"visibility":747,"author_company":49,"featured_image":748,"seo_description":581,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":752,"formattedArticleDate":753},"8040b6a6-4bf1-4fcc-bef3-a1d911c25bb1","2016-07-20 00:00",[560],{"slug":561,"name":562},"china","China",[564],{"slug":565,"name":566,"content":567},"matthew-bird","Matthew Bird",{"job_title":568,"image":569,"bio":571,"linkedin":572},"Senior Editor - Supply Chains & Data Visualisation",{"filename":570},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/512x512/14738033ec/matthew-bird.jpeg","Matthew writes, edits and produces content for Benchmark Intelligence and Benchmark Source across the whole mine to grid supply chain. He also acts as a liaison to the press. He has a PhD in electrochemistry from the University of Nottingham.","https://www.linkedin.com/in/birdmatthew/",{"type":574,"content":575},"doc",[576,583,588,593,598,603,608,613,618,623,628,633,638,643,648,653,658,663,666,671,676,681,686,691,696,701,706,709,714,719,724,729],{"type":577,"attrs":578,"content":579},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[580],{"text":581,"type":582},"Beijing accepts defeat in WTO case and will now switch focus to reorganising rare earth export licences and taxes","text",{"type":577,"attrs":584,"content":585},{"textAlign":49},[586],{"text":587,"type":582},"China has lifted export quotas on rare earth elements after admitting defeat in the World Trade Organization (WTO) case from last year.",{"type":577,"attrs":589,"content":590},{"textAlign":49},[591],{"text":592,"type":582},"The country, which supplies 85% of the world’s rare earths, has abolished a long standing quota which capped exports and is set to restructure the way the rare earths taxation system operates.",{"type":577,"attrs":594,"content":595},{"textAlign":49},[596],{"text":597,"type":582},"This has come after the WTO ruled that its rare earths restrictions were “designed to realise industrial policy goals rather than conservation”.",{"type":577,"attrs":599,"content":600},{"textAlign":49},[601],{"text":602,"type":582},"The WTO complaint, which was initially raised in 2012 by the US and saw the EU, Japan and Canada join soon after, claimed that China was deliberately conducting unfair business practices by restricting supply of irreplaceable elements to its competitor nations.",{"type":577,"attrs":604,"content":605},{"textAlign":49},[606],{"text":607,"type":582},"The major focus was the export quota China imposed on rare earth concentrates which capped quantities from as high as 50,145 tonnes in 2009 to 30,611 tonnes in 2014. This news is likely to see other forms of restrictions imposed.",{"type":577,"attrs":609,"content":610},{"textAlign":49},[611],{"text":612,"type":582},"Benchmark Mineral Intelligence believes that fundamentally the game will not change and that China’s preferential treatment of domestic producers will continue by other means.",{"type":577,"attrs":614,"content":615},{"textAlign":49},[616],{"text":617,"type":582},"We expect China to refocus its efforts on restructuring the way it issues export licences to its producers and on simplifying its rare earths tax system.",{"type":577,"attrs":619,"content":620},{"textAlign":49},[621],{"text":622,"type":582},"Without a licence companies are banned from exporting. Beijing still controls this vital bottleneck of the supply chain, therefore whether it caps exports at the port or controls the number of export licences issued, the result is the same: restricted supply of rare earths to the rest of the world.",{"type":577,"attrs":624,"content":625},{"textAlign":49},[626],{"text":627,"type":582},"China has achieved this in many other critical mineral industries and while rare earths is the most extreme of all, the principal is no different in the eyes of the country’s governing bodies.",{"type":577,"attrs":629,"content":630},{"textAlign":49},[631],{"text":632,"type":582},"A major talking point now is whether western joint-venture (JV) companies will be allocated export licences.",{"type":577,"attrs":634,"content":635},{"textAlign":49},[636],{"text":637,"type":582},"The move also offers up a chance for China to simplify its rare earths tax.",{"type":577,"attrs":639,"content":640},{"textAlign":49},[641],{"text":642,"type":582},"It will be of great interest to the industry to see what the new taxation will look like and whether it will be different for 100% Chinese owned operations and international JVs.",{"type":577,"attrs":644,"content":645},{"textAlign":49},[646],{"text":647,"type":582},"“The Chinese Ministry of Commerce indicated that [rare earths] are now to be exported through only 9 designated ports,” explained Gareth Hatch of Technology Metals Research.",{"type":577,"attrs":649,"content":650},{"textAlign":49},[651],{"text":652,"type":582},"“Export licenses will be “handled” through a Special Commissioner’s Office within MOFCOM, on a case-bycase, shipment-by-shipment basis,” he added.",{"type":577,"attrs":654,"content":655},{"textAlign":49},[656],{"text":657,"type":582},"All of these factors will create short-term uncertainty as the industry will wait to see how the new scenario plays out.",{"type":577,"attrs":659,"content":660},{"textAlign":49},[661],{"text":662,"type":582},"In the long term China’s stance of redirection of rare earths towards domestic consumption is likely to remain the same, consistent with its plan to create an economy based on value-added products and not raw materials.",{"type":577,"attrs":664,"content":665},{"textAlign":49},[],{"type":577,"attrs":667,"content":668},{"textAlign":49},[669],{"text":670,"type":582}," Long-term clean up",{"type":577,"attrs":672,"content":673},{"textAlign":49},[674],{"text":675,"type":582},"China’s long-term plan goes beyond rare earths.",{"type":577,"attrs":677,"content":678},{"textAlign":49},[679],{"text":680,"type":582},"The world’s second biggest economy is in the midst of fundamental change to the way it operates. A major overhaul of its mining operations is key to securing a future based on value added products such as batteries, smartphones and new energy, not just materials upstream at a low cost.",{"type":577,"attrs":682,"content":683},{"textAlign":49},[684],{"text":685,"type":582},"And rare earths is not alone.",{"type":577,"attrs":687,"content":688},{"textAlign":49},[689],{"text":690,"type":582},"Graphite, phosphate and fluorspar are examples of other mineral industries that have been subject to consolidation and modernisation.",{"type":577,"attrs":692,"content":693},{"textAlign":49},[694],{"text":695,"type":582},"Therefore, while many countries will want to criticise China for its rare earths stance, the reality is it is entitled to do what it wants with its own resources.",{"type":577,"attrs":697,"content":698},{"textAlign":49},[699],{"text":700,"type":582},"While, for now, it has to obey the WTO membership rules to remain at the negotiating table, the reality is China does not need the revenue from rare earths, it is symbolic and rather than economic.",{"type":577,"attrs":702,"content":703},{"textAlign":49},[704],{"text":705,"type":582},"In terms of supply security for users of the elements, having 85% of total supply reside with one country is an unsustainable environment.",{"type":577,"attrs":707,"content":708},{"textAlign":49},[],{"type":577,"attrs":710,"content":711},{"textAlign":49},[712],{"text":713,"type":582},"It is a situation that the industry, and end users in particular, only have themselves to blame for after being more than willing to accept lower cost rare earths from China for two decades while not investing in new sources externally.",{"type":577,"attrs":715,"content":716},{"textAlign":49},[717],{"text":718,"type":582},"The only other critical minerals which come close to such a onesided supply dynamic are graphite (75% from China), silicon (60% from China), cobalt (55-60% from Democratic Republic of Congo), and fluorspar (50-55% from China).",{"type":577,"attrs":720,"content":721},{"textAlign":49},[722],{"text":723,"type":582},"Another surprising fact is that major users have known about this supply imbalance for decades and have felt the price impact as recently as 2010 when China blocked exports to Japan.",{"type":577,"attrs":725,"content":726},{"textAlign":49},[727],{"text":728,"type":582},"With China changing, the question for the rest of the world is: where will significant new supply of rare earth elements come from?",{"type":577,"attrs":730,"content":731},{"textAlign":49},[732],{"text":733,"type":582},"It is the same question that was being asked five years ago and the industry has not really made progress since.",[735],{"slug":565,"name":566,"content":736},{"job_title":568,"image":737,"bio":571,"linkedin":572},{"filename":570},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"8040b6a6-4bf1-4fcc-bef3-a1d911c25bb1\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[741,744],{"slug":742,"name":743},"batteries","Batteries",{"slug":745,"name":746},"critical-minerals","Critical Minerals","private",{"id":49,"alt":749,"name":749,"focus":749,"title":749,"source":749,"filename":749,"copyright":749,"fieldtype":750,"meta_data":751,"is_external_url":50},"","asset",{"alt":749,"title":749,"source":749,"copyright":749},"Jul 20, 2016","20th July 2016",[],[],1792773947755]