Valued at US$2.8 billion in 2022, the rare-earth element market is expected to reach US$3.9 billion by 2028, growing by 5.9 per cent a year on average.
With the rapid advance of modern technology, demand for rare-earth elements — the basic raw material of high-tech and green technology — keeps growing, and the market for products containing them has reached US$1.5–2 trillion, a major market accounting for 5 per cent of the world’s industrial output.
For more than 20 years China has supplied the great majority of rare-earth elements to the world market and alone holds the processing and refining know-how.
By prioritising its domestic needs and setting export quotas, China has created technological and raw-material dependence in the market and the conditions for price-setting and shortages.