China-Japan Dispute Shines Light on Rare Earth Metals
07 October 2010
Rare earth oxides from top center clockwise: praseodymium, cerium, lanthanum, neodymium, samarium, and gadolinium
This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.
Few people had ever heard of the natural elements known as rare earth metals before a recent dispute between China and Japan. Yet these metals are used in devices like smartphones, flat screens, hybrid car batteries, MP3 players and military equipment.
In September, Japan detained a Chinese ship captain near disputed islands in the East China Sea. China denied that it stopped exports of rare earth metals to Japan to force his release. But the incident raised concerns.
Japan is the world's biggest importer of rare earths. And China produces ninety-seven percent of the world supply.
China says it sold almost four billion dollars' worth in two thousand eight. But marketing professor George Haley at the University of New Haven in Connecticut says China has always kept prices low.
GEORGE HALEY: "So unlike other minerals, the price of rare earth elements, after the nineteen eighties when they started production, has actually fallen."
Some countries with rare earth metals no longer mine them -- including the United States. One reason is the low-cost imports from China. Another reason is concerns about environmental damage .
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