CHINA is considering setting up strategic reserves of 10 minor metals including rare earth, domestic media said yesterday.
The report comes amid concerns in Japan and the United States that China is clamping down on exports of rare earth.
The strategic reserve plan would include rare earth, tungsten, antimony, molybdenum, tin, indium, germanium, gallium, tantalum and zirconium, Shanghai Securities News said, quoting unnamed sources.
Some metals like rare earth and tungsten have long been undervalued on the global market due to the low cost of complying with environmental standards in China, and a reserve would help the country manage supply and demand, it said.
China has cut rare earth exports by five to 10 percent a year since 2006 as demand and prices soar, in a measure to minimize the harmful environmental effects of mining for the minerals.
A spokesman for the Commerce Ministry said Tuesday that China would further cut its export quotas for rare earth metals next year but not by a very large margin.
But high-tech firms in Japan and the United States say China is deliberately withholding shipments of the minerals.
China has repeatedly denied such a move, and said last week that it would not use rare earth trade as a bargaining tool.
China Securities Journal said yesterday China would trim export quotas for minor metals by an average of 2 to 3 percent each year and cuts for rare earth would likely to be larger than other metals.
The export quotas for minor metals are unlikely to rebound in future, the newspaper quoted an industry insider who was helping draft the policy as saying.
Rare earth a group of 17 elements are metals used in high-tech products ranging from flat-screen televisions to lasers and hybrid cars.(SD-Agencies)
