China’s rare-earth exports to Japan show marked drop in March

[BEIJING] China’s exports of rare-earth magnets and materials to Japan fell sharply in March, as the souring relations between the Asian nations heighten concerns about a potential supply squeeze.

Volumes of magnets shipped to Japan fell 17 per cent from February to a nine-month low of about 184 tonnes in March, going by the data from China’s customs administration released on Monday (Apr 20).

Volumes of intermediate materials including oxides slumped by nearly 90 per cent.

Flows of rare earths from China have been closely watched after Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks about Taiwan prompted fierce backlash from Beijing in late 2025.

Since then, Chinese authorities have rolled out tougher regulations on exports used for both civilian and military purposes, and the state media have warned that supplies of rare earths would face greater scrutiny.

Tadanori Sasaki, a senior research director at the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan, said: “It’s quite likely that the tighter export control has finally started affecting rare-earth magnets delivery to Japan.”

He had previously said that it would take at least three months of data to assess the impact of the political tensions between Tokyo and Beijing.

Japan stands out among developed economies for its domestic rare-earth magnet industry, which procures some of its raw materials from Australian miner Lynas Rare Earths.

Still, it remains highly dependent on China, especially for supplies of scarcer and heavy rare-earth elements needed for high-performance magnets.

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The March data released on Monday showed that China’s exports of rare-earth compounds and other intermediate products dropped from 1,468 tonnes the previous month to 893 tonnes.

Shipments of rare earths in metal form fell from 137 tonnes in February to 58 tonnes in March.

Chinese trade figures tend to show distortions in the first quarter due to the Chinese New Year holiday, which puts many businesses on hold.

This year, the holiday fell in the second half of February, which could have led to a slow start in March. BLOOMBERG