[SMM Rare Earth Weekly Review: Rare Earth Prices Hold Up Well, and Market Inquiry Activity Increases] The Pr-Nd oxide market as a whole continued to hold up well. Under the impact of expectations of tighter supply and pronounced fluctuations in futures prices, upstream suppliers kept raising their offers, while low-priced cargoes tightened rapidly, pushing Pr-Nd oxide prices up to 722,000-728,000 yuan/mt.

This week, the rare earth market outside China showed a divergent pattern of “cerium up, the rest down.” Driven by price increases in China and rising ocean freight rates, cerium oxide FOB and CIF prices rose by $55/mt and $60/mt, respectively, while FOB offers for mainstream magnetic material raw materials such as praseodymium, neodymium, dysprosium, and terbium were generally lowered by $3-19.5/kg due to lower prices in China and tight supply caused by export controls. Although limited trading volumes supported premiums in markets outside China, expectations of an industrial slowdown in Europe triggered by the Middle East situation may suppress subsequent demand. On industry developments, Lynas’ Malaysia plant started samarium oxide production ahead of schedule, consolidating its position as the only commercial heavy rare earth separator outside China and advancing its 2030 strategy. In Australia, Terrain discovered high-grade magnetic rare earth ore intervals during drilling at its Western Australia project, highlighting significant resource potential.

[SMM Rare Earth Weekly Review: Rare Earth Prices Pulled Back Significantly, Downstream Inquiries and Procurement Decreased] Affected by fluctuations in futures prices, confidence in the Pr-Nd oxide market dropped sharply. Traders proactively sold off cargoes at low prices, causing transaction prices in the Pr-Nd oxide market to fall rapidly. As of today, Pr-Nd oxide prices had already pulled back to 690,000-700,000 yuan/mt.

[SMM Rare Earth Weekly Review: Rare Earth Prices Fell First, Then Rose; Pr-Nd, Dysprosium, and Terbium Saw Wide Swings] Due to the combined impact of market news and falling futures prices, suppliers in the Pr-Nd oxide market lacked confidence in the future market and proactively cut prices for shipments. However, upstream separation plants believed that the tight supply pattern of Pr-Nd oxide had not changed. Therefore, Pr-Nd oxide prices pulled back to 760,000-780,000 yuan/mt before rebounding to 790,000-800,000 yuan/mt.

[SMM Rare Earth Weekly Review: Rare Earth Prices Pulled Back, Strong Wait-and-See Sentiment Downstream] Affected by news-related factors, the Pr-Nd oxide market saw heightened wait-and-see sentiment among downstream metal plants, and some traders proactively cut prices to boost shipments. As of today, Pr-Nd oxide prices had pulled back to 845,000-850,000 yuan/mt.

Shenghe Resources (600392.SH) stated on the investor interaction platform that the Ngualla rare earth ore project in Tanzania, operated by its controlling subsidiary Peak Resources, has proven rare earth reserves of 18.5 million mt with an average grade of 4.8%, equivalent to 887,000 mt of REO. The company's rare earth smelting and separation capacity is subject to the approval and announcement by the competent industry authority, and its total rare earth metal capacity is approximately 34,000 mt.

[SMM Rare Earth Weekly Review: Rare Earth Prices Rose Across the Board After the Holiday, Market Trading Showed Signs of Recovery] The supply of Pr-Nd oxide remained tight, and most industry participants held optimistic expectations for the future market. Although post-holiday procurement activity did not show significant improvement, suppliers maintained relatively high quotations. As of today, the price of Pr-Nd oxide was further raised to 885,000-890,000 yuan/mt.

[SMM Rare Earth Weekly Review: Pr-Nd Prices Remain High, Downstream Procurement Activities Decrease] This week, the market quotation for Pr-Nd oxide remained high. Suppliers held optimistic expectations for the future market and were unwilling to sell at low prices. However, downstream buyers gradually began holidays and halted procurement, leading to a noticeable decline in the actual trading activity of Pr-Nd oxide. As of today, the price of Pr-Nd oxide fluctuated and rose to 747,000-753,000 yuan/mt.

[SMM Flash: Japan's Sojitz Begins Importing Medium-Heavy Rare Earth from Australia] On October 30, Japanese trading company Sojitz Corporation revealed that it has started importing heavy rare earth from Australia's Lynas Corporation to Japan. The imported heavy rare earth consists of medium-heavy rare earth varieties produced by Lynas using Australian rare earth ore at its separation plant in Malaysia, marking Japan's first import of such products from the company. This move will further promote the diversification of Japan's rare earth supply chain, ensure stable supplies of rare earth raw materials, and reduce dependence on Chinese raw materials. As early as 2011, Sojitz signed an exclusive distribution agreement with Lynas for light rare earth products, followed by multiple loans and equity investments in Lynas. In 2023, Sojitz, together with energy agency Jogmec, signed an offtake agreement worth A$200 million (approximately $132 million) with Lynas, aimed at securing procurement of 65% of Lynas's dysprosium and terbium production.

[SMM Flash: US Critical Metals Reaches Second Underwriting Agreement] US Critical Metals has entered into a securities purchase agreement with an undisclosed institutional investor, planning to raise $50 million through a private investment in public equity (PIPE) transaction. Under the agreement, Critical Metals will issue a total of 1.47 million shares of common stock and pre-funded warrants to purchase approximately 1.56 million shares of securities. The company stated that the net proceeds from the offering will be used to fund the development of its Tanbreez rare earth ore mine in Greenland, which has estimated ore reserves of 4.7 billion mt. The previous week, Critical Metals signed a ten-year underwriting agreement with US rare earth processor REalloys, committing to supply 15% of the total rare earth products from Tanbreez. In August this year, Critical Metals had already reached an underwriting agreement with Ucore Rare Metals, agreeing to purchase 10% of the rare earth products from Tanbreez's production, bringing the total underwriting volume to 25%.