Rare earth industry wants sustainable development of the industry
11.04.2012/XNUMX/XNUMX - The Chinese Rare Earth Trade Association was officially launched on Sunday. It is intended to promote the sustainable development of this branch, said the Deputy Minister for Industry and Information Technology.
The association consists of 155 members who span the entire industrial chain (mines, smelters and so on). Among them are some giants of Chinese industry, such as the Aluminum Corporation of China and the China Minmetals Corporation, said Vice Minister So Bo. "This also makes communication and negotiations within the trade association easier."
“The tasks of this association include establishing a reasonable price system and achieving a win-win situation between producers and consumers,” said Gan Yong, the president of the trade association. Gan is also a scientist at the Chinese Academy of Engineering. "It is now urgent to curb illegal exports and to resolve trade disputes, particularly with foreign companies."
In recent years, the Chinese government has introduced new production regulations, stricter environmental standards and an export quota system to ensure the sustainable development of the industry. But the measures have provoked protest in different countries. The EU, US and Japan accuse China of pursuing trade protectionism in order to bring benefits to Chinese industry and attract foreign companies to China. The government in Beijing, however, rejects this: The controls were used to protect the environment and their own resources.
China currently provides around 97 percent of the world's rare earth production, but only has a third of the world's reserves. “Many countries have rare earths. The rest of the world shouldn't just let China do the dirty work, ”Gan said. “Rare earth exploitation has already caused a lot of environmental damage. We must not pursue our economic interests at the expense of the environment. The sustainable development of the rare earth industry is therefore our top priority. "
(German.china.org.cn)
