Data published by the China General Administration of Customs shows that the country’s exports of rare earth permanent magnets, including NdFeB powder, increased by nearly 23% in the first nine months of 2014 to 21,543 mt. The export value was put at $1.229 billion, an increase of 7.7% over the same period in 2013, and the average price per kilogram for all NdFeB-based products was put at $57.1.

As can be seen in the table the export of both rare earth permanent magnets and NdFeB powder increased considerably in the period to 16,225 mt (+16.7%) and 4,067 mt (+82.7%) respectively.

Rare earth magnets, the bulk of which comprise NdFeB materials, are widely used in high-tech or green products such as hybrid or electric cars, wind turbines, industrial robots, high speed trains, medical equipment and consumer electronics. The increasing exports of Chinese NdFeB products is an indication of the gradual increase in the domestic production of high performance, price competitive magnets to meet demand in the various end-user sectors.

Total NdFeB output in China was estimated at 91,400 tonnes in 2013 which accounts for over 90% of global output. China’s high performance NdFeB output reached 22,000 tonnes in 2013 representing a 54.3% share of the global total.

Exports of Rare earth NdFeB products from China – January-September 2014