May 18.05.2012, XNUMX - The Ministry of Commerce announced this week that it would increase its export quotas for rare earths. China controls almost the entire world production of rare earths, which are mainly required for the manufacture of electrical appliances.
As the Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced on Thursday, the export quotas for rare earths are to be increased by 10.680 tons.
According to a statement on the website of the Ministry, 9490 tons of the expanded export volume are accounted for by so-called light rare earths and 1190 tons by medium and heavy rare earths.
The statement states that the additional quotas will be made available to 12 companies that have recently passed a study by the Ministry of the Environment.
The twelve companies include the Baogang Group, the country's largest producer of rare earth minerals, and the Aluminum Corporation of China.
The statement further states that the new quotas are to be understood in addition to the first export volume of rare earths.
On the 27. Last December, the ministry announced that the first batch of rare earth exports for the year 2012 will comprise a total of 10.546 tonnes and will be split among eleven qualified companies.
The ministry also pointed out that companies that did not have the environmental investigation would not have export rights if they did not complete the second round of review by the end of July.
China supplies more than 90 percent of the world's rare earths, but its reserves are only one-third of the world's total. Confronted with the extensive environmental challenges, in recent years the country has announced production caps, stricter environmental standards and an export quota for rare earths to protect the environment and conserve non-renewable resources.
(German.china.org.cn)
