Overview

• Following a June 26 Geneva framework understanding, China’s export licence approval rate for rare earth magnets has risen to about 60 percent from 25 percent earlier this month.
• The quicker flow of magnets has eased the threat of widespread production shutdowns across automotive and technology supply chains in the US, Europe and Asia.
• Hundreds of licence applications, especially those bound for the United States or routed through third countries, remain stuck in China’s complex and opaque approval process.
• European suppliers report stable rare earth supplies and expect manageable impacts into July, while US firm Dexter Magnetic Technologies has secured only five licences out of 180 requests.
• Affected companies and governments are ramping up investments in alternative processing capacity overseas to reduce long-term dependence on China’s dominant downstream rare earth infrastructure.