China stockpiling rare earths
China has started strategic stockpiling of rare-earth minerals for the first time, the state-run China Securities Journal reported Thursday.
Beijing in May 2011 announced its intention to build strategic stockpiles of rare-earth minerals, which are crucial to the manufacturing of many high-tech products, and a recent decline in prices prompted it to begin, the newspaper said, without providing details.
Fiscal funds will be allocated to those companies that help Beijing acquire the resources, the newspaper said, without naming those companies.
Jia Yinsong, head of the rare-earth department at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said in the report that Beijing has created 11 rare-earth mining zones to carry out the stockpiling plan.
A man works at the site of a rare earth metals mine at Nancheng county, Jiangxi province October 20, 2010. REUTERS/Stringer
China accounts for more than 90 percent of the global rare-earth supply.
The US, EU and Japan in March filed a complaint against China at the World Trade Organisation, claiming that Beijing’s restricts on rare-earth exports violate international trade rules.
China has defended its export restrictions as an effort to protect the environment.
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Category: ResourceAsia
