Prelims – Current events of national and international importance.
Mains (GS I) – Distribution of key natural resources across the world.
Why in news?
Recently, China has suspended the export of key rare earth metals and magnets as a part of China’s retaliation for US tariff increase.
- Rare Earth Elements (REEs) – They are a set of 17 silvery-white soft heavy metals.
- It is also called rare earth oxides.
- The 17 rare earth elements are,
- Scandium and yttrium are not part of the lanthanide family, but they are included because they occur in the same mineral deposits as the lanthanides and have similar chemical properties.
- All Rare earth elements are considered metals.
- Properties – Malleable with high melting and boiling points.
- They exhibit both strong magnetic and luminescent properties due to their unique electronic structure.
- Significance – Rare earth metals are vital in advanced electronics, defence and medical equipment’s and renewable energy.
- They are critical in green technologies, to support net zero carbon emissions goals.
- Resource distribution – China has the largest reserves and production, followed by countries like Brazil, Vietnam, and Russia.
- China account for 90% of global production and it also controls refining technologies related to rare earth elements.
- Suspension on export – The Chinese government ordered restrictions on the export of key rare earth metals, which are refined entirely in China, as well as rare earth magnets.
- Key heavy rare earth metals which that are covered under restriction are samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium and yttrium.
- Retaliation on US – This suspension was in response to reciprocal tariffs imposed by US which led to trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
- It is primarily aimed to prevent supplies from reaching certain companies, including American military contractors.
- New regulatory system – The metals, and special magnets made with them, can now be shipped out of China only with special export licenses.
- The licensing regime for other countries is yet to set up by China which, effectively halts shipments.
- Impact of Rare earth element export suspension –It is likely to trigger a global supply crunch especially affecting major REE-consuming countries like the US, Japan, Vietnam, and Germany.
- It could affect the production of Electric vehicles, defence equipment and advanced electronics.
- India has limited impact due to relatively low domestic consumption but it still relies heavily on China for Rare Earth metals with 65% of imports are from China.
References
- The New York Times| China Halts Metal Exports
- Rare Elements Resources| Rare Earth Elements
