I just saw that rare earth concentrate prices hit a new high this week. The announcement from Baogang Stock and Northern Rare Earth on April 10th set the price at 38,804 yuan per ton for this quarter, representing a nearly 45% jump compared to January-March. This is quite remarkable considering that just a year ago, prices were at 31,030 yuan.

What’s interesting is that this is already the seventh consecutive quarter of increases. The sector’s stocks reacted immediately: Baogang Stock rose more than 8.5%, Northern Rare Earth gained 3.1%. Clearly, the market was expecting this move in rare earths.

Since they implemented this automatic adjustment mechanism in April 2023, prices are recalculated each quarter based on the oxides from the previous period. Baogang controls 81% of the national rare earth reserves at its Baiyun-Obo mine, so basically, their announcement sets the market. Northern Rare Earth is the only buyer of their concentrates, making this price practically the benchmark for the entire domestic rare earth industry.

This 44.61% quarter-over-quarter increase is the largest since the new system started. It seems that supply remains tight, and that is pushing prices upward.