Workers transport soil containing rare earth elements for export at a port in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province, China. Reuters-Yonhap
Despite concerted international efforts to diversify rare earth supply chains away from China over the past year, leading Chinese producers are forecasting a significant rebound in profitability for 2025.
China Northern Rare Earth Group, a state-owned domestic rare earth giant, has forecast net profit growth of up to 135 per cent for 2025, reversing a decline in the previous year.
Similarly, state-controlled critical minerals giant China Rare Earth Group projected it would return to profitability in 2025.
In the downstream sector, Beijing Zhong Ke San Huan High-Tech, a leading producer of rare earth permanent magnets — a key rare earth product widely used in electric vehicles and consumer electronics — expects its 2025 net profit to surge by as much as 900 percent, reversing a 96 percent decline in 2024.
The company attributed the major turnaround to advances in technological innovation, an expanded market share over the past year, and improved cost controls, according to its earnings pre-announcement in late January.
Rare earths are essential to a wide range of high-tech products, and their importance has grown as demand rises for advanced applications — such as high-performance semiconductors — amid rapid technological development in recent years.
With rich reserves and production capabilities across the entire rare earth value chain, China accounts for around 70 percent of global rare earth mining output, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Beijing leveraged this position during last year’s trade rivalry with the United States, imposing export controls on several critical mineral elements — a move that sent ripple effects through global manufacturing supply chains.
As a result, countries around the world have stepped up efforts to reduce their reliance on China's rare earth supply. From the U.S. and Korea to global south nations like Brazil, governments have initiated a wave of plans ranging from mining investments to diplomatic cooperation aimed at securing alternative sources of the critical minerals.
Korea, which is heavily dependent on China for rare earth imports, has accelerated efforts to diversify supply through overseas partnerships and investments. Rare earth cooperation was discussed during a recent meeting between President Lee Jae Myung and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in the last week, as Brazil holds the world’s third-largest rare earth reserves while lacking production capabilities.
Source: Korea Times News
