Does China's rare earth policy have an impact on Japan?

Japanese companies import rare earths from China in disguise, and buy waste glass to extract from Japan. While accusing China of "treating them differently" in rare earth export, it continues to obtain rare earth resources from China by various covert means. On February 29th, 65438, our reporter learned from authoritative sources that the Ministry of Commerce of China recently received a report from a rare earth enterprise in Sichuan Province. It is reported that Japanese comprehensive trading companies such as Mitsui & Co., Ltd. use "waste" such as broken glass imported from China to extract rare earth elements such as lanthanum and cerium. Lin Donglu, Secretary-General of chinese society of rare earths, confirmed to this reporter that recently, rare earth enterprises in Sichuan and other places reported to chinese society of rare earths that Mitsui imported a large amount of broken glass from Sichuan and other places and used recycling technology to extract rare earth elements from it. Since this year 1 1, the Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs have banned the export of broken glass. "Mitsui's use of imported waste glass can circumvent the restrictions on China's rare earth export quotas, which is actually an act of importing rare earths from China in disguise." An expert in chinese society of rare earths said. In addition, many people in Ganzhou rare earth industry told this reporter that various institutions of Japan's Mitsui & Co., Ltd. in China condoned the illegal mining of Ganzhou rare earth through various trade behaviors. Our reporter also learned from reliable sources that the Ministry of Commerce and other relevant departments will further control the export of rare earth primary products, thus improving the status quo of disguised loss of rare earth resources. A glass manufacturer in Sichuan province said in reflection that Mitsui & Co., Ltd. has greatly increased the import of broken glass due to the domestic control policy on the total amount of rare earths. The company also said in the above-mentioned reflection materials that the broken glass imported by Mitsui & Co., Ltd. is mainly broken glass left by precision instruments, which is rich in rare earth elements. Another rare earth processing enterprise in Sichuan Province also reported that the demand of Japanese Mitsui & Co., Ltd. for waste broken glass in China has increased significantly recently, which is closely related to the reduction of rare earth exports in China. In fact, the extraction of rare earth elements from waste glass has formed an industrial scale in Japan. An expert from chinese society of rare earths told this reporter that Japanese imports of broken glass from China are strictly smuggling, because the Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs banned the export of broken glass from June this year. A person in charge of Beijing Nonferrous Metals Research Institute Oil Research Rare Earth New Materials Co., Ltd. told this reporter that the cost of re-extracting rare earth elements from broken glass is very low and the technical difficulty is not great. So broken glass can be used as raw material. According to our reporter, rare earth elements such as neodymium, praseodymium, erbium and cerium are excellent glass colorants. Lanthanum glass has the characteristics of high refraction and low dispersion, and is widely used to manufacture various lenses, advanced cameras and video cameras, especially the lenses of high-altitude photography devices. Cerium radiation-proof glass, used for automobile glass and TV glass shell; Neodymium glass, as a laser material, is the most ideal material for giant lasers, mainly used in controlled nuclear fusion devices. "All kinds of special glasses are indispensable materials for Japan's automobile and electronics industries, and these materials are inseparable from rare earths. It is unlikely that Japan will develop new materials to replace rare earths on a large scale in the short term. " The person in charge of the above-mentioned rare earth new materials co., ltd. said. Our reporter also found out that with China strengthening its control over rare earth mining and export, Japanese comprehensive trading companies headed by Mitsui & Co., Ltd. stepped up their search for primary rare earth products in China, and then shipped them back to China to re-refine rare earth elements. Strictly control the export of rare earth products Although China has gradually reduced the export quota of rare earths in line with the principle of protecting resources and the environment, comprehensive trading companies such as Mitsui & Co., Ltd. of Japan have evaded policy restrictions by importing rare earth primary products, thus realizing the purpose of transporting China's rare earth resources back to China. The above-mentioned Sichuan enterprises said in the materials submitted to the Ministry of Commerce that Japan and other countries are acquiring domestic rare earth resources through "various means and channels". However, Japanese secret measures have attracted the attention of China's rare earth industry. An authoritative rare earth industry insider told this reporter that in the future, the country will strictly control the export of rare earth products, especially the export of rare earth primary processed products. "Among all kinds of rare earth alloys in the future, the rare earth content above 10% should be strictly tested." The person said. In fact, the Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs have taken preliminary actions to strictly control the export of rare earth products. On September 29th, 20 10, the Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs issued Announcement No.63 of 20 10, and since 2011,44 ten-digit commodity codes have been added to the prohibited category of processing trade. Among them, 22 kinds of commodities such as polysilicon and waste broken glass are prohibited from export, and 22 kinds of commodities such as hot-pressed iron blocks, scrap cast iron scraps and waste automobile parts are prohibited from import and export. A person in charge of a rare earth processing enterprise in Guangdong told reporters that the new ban is a curse on the smuggling channels of rare earths. For example, NdFeB alloy has been banned from export, and NdFeB alloy is rich in medium and heavy rare earth elements. Many insiders also told this reporter that most of the rare earths have flowed to Japan through various channels, among which Mitsui & Co., Ltd. even condoned the smuggling of rare earths in China. "In Inner Mongolia, Sichuan Ganzhou and other places, there are many Japanese-funded processing enterprises, and Mitsui & Co., Ltd. is inextricably linked with these Japanese-funded enterprises. The purpose is to transport cheap rare earth products back to China and then sell them to China at a high price. " A person familiar with the matter said. Lin Donglu also said that after the "one in and one out" of rare earths, the profits vary greatly. "Going out is the price of cabbage. Once purified in Japan and sold back to China, the price can be doubled. " In addition, a large number of broken glass can be exported to Japan at the risk of "blocking", which is also related to the lack of domestic broken glass processing market. Japan's achievements in waste glass recycling are obvious to all, which is largely attributed to the government's support policies. According to our reporter's understanding, Japan has promulgated the Law on Reuse of Container Packaging and the Law on Promotion of Effective Utilization of Resources, so that waste broken glass can be recycled to the maximum extent. On the surface, Mitsui's energy is that China's indiscriminate exploitation of rare earths has repeatedly been banned, which has led to an increase in actual rare earth production, but the fundamental reason is that Japan and the United States have controlled the upstream resource exploitation by controlling the downstream supply chain of rare earths. China strengthened the restrictions on rare earths, which made Japan set up a research group to deal with the "rare earth crisis" at the first time, and the main members of the research group were comprehensive trading companies or consortia headed by Mitsui Corporation, for example, on June 2 this year 10, when Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Mongolian Prime Minister Batbold exchanged views on entering Mongolia for rare earth development, the heads of consortia such as Mitsui Corporation, Sumitomo Corporation, Itochu Corporation and Mitsubishi Corporation attended the meeting. In all kinds of large-scale rare earth conferences in China, Mitsui & Co., Ltd.' s institutions in China usually send people to attend. According to our reporter's understanding, China's rare earth resources are mainly exported to Japan and South Korea. A prominent feature of Japan and South Korea's foreign trade model is that the comprehensive trading company headed by Mitsui & Co., Ltd. takes the lead in importing, thus concentrating the scattered bargaining power in the hands of a few consortia. Rare earths are mainly used in military industry, electronics, new material manufacturing and other fields, and these industries are the focus of the development of Sony, Panasonic, Sharp and other enterprises under the Mitsui system. As an important member of the Mitsui system, Mitsui & Co., Ltd. is also the largest comprehensive trading company in Japan. Every year, Mitsui & Co., Ltd. comes to China to discuss the import price of rare earths on behalf of Japanese enterprises, which can easily decompose domestic enterprises one by one. "We have no room for bargaining. It's too scattered It is said that China is weak in iron ore negotiation and rare earth is even weaker. The other party's attitude is very tough. " A trader of Ganzhou Mining Company told this reporter. Therefore, although China's rare earth industry policy prohibits foreign capital from entering the production field, in fact, Mitsui & Co., Ltd. has accumulated rare earth resources on a large scale by centralizing downstream procurement rights, and has penetrated its control power into China's rare earth production field. The above-mentioned experts from chinese society of rare earths said that the best thing we can do to strengthen the control of rare earths in China is to alleviate the destructive exploitation of rare earths, but the pricing power of the market is still in the hands of buyers. Although China's Minmetals Group, sinosteel and other state-owned trading enterprises also occupy most of the rare earth exports, their "energy" is far less than Mitsui's products. Mitsui & Co., Ltd. mainly focuses on trade in form, but it can integrate rare earth industrial chain resources through comprehensive functions such as trade agency, production participation, financing service, warehousing and circulation, information consultation and scientific and technological development. The relevant rare earth industry association will be established in May next year. On February 28th, Wang Caifeng, assistant inspector of the Raw Materials Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and member of the preparatory group of China Rare Earth Industry Association, said that as a bridge between the government and enterprises in the future, the preparatory work for China Rare Earth Industry Association has been completed and is waiting for the approval of relevant departments, and it is expected to be formally established in May next year. Wang Caifeng revealed that China Rare Earth Industry Association will be composed of at least 93 enterprises, including almost all important rare earth smelting and separation enterprises in China. Wang Caifeng said that the specific responsibility of the association is to assist the government and play an assistant role in rare earth mining, production and foreign cooperation. I hope that the Rare Earth Industry Association can lead the healthy development of the industry like the China Iron and Steel Industry Association. Rare earth is the general name of 17 special metal elements. As a non-renewable resource, rare earth is widely used in aviation, military, metallurgy, petrochemical, environmental protection, electronics and other fields. In recent years, due to over-exploitation and disorderly competition, the reserves of rare earth resources in China have fallen sharply, which has caused great damage to the ecological environment of the main producing areas. At present, China's rare earth reserves only account for 3 1% of the global total, but its export volume accounts for 90% of the global total.

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