Rare earth market update on May 22, 2026
This week, domestic rare earth prices generally showed a trend of sharp decrease first and then stabilization. At the beginning of the week, due to the slow transmission of terminal demand to the upstream sector and the poor short-term market expectations among industry insiders, suppliers generally showed panic sentiment, among which praseodymium-neodymium raw material traders significantly enhanced their willingness to sell at lower prices. Near the weekend, affected by the recent sharp price decrease and high production costs, most suppliers enhanced their profit awareness. In addition, the increase in downstream inventory replenishment at low prices further strengthened the signal of price stabilization for mainstream rare earth products.
This week, the price of praseodymium oxide decreased from about RMB 845,000/ton to around RMB 785,000/ton, a decrease of about 7.10%; the price of neodymium oxide decreased from about RMB 840,000/ton to around RMB 785,000/ton, a decrease of about 6.55%; the price of praseodymium-neodymium oxide decreased from about RMB 750,000/ton to around RMB 705,000/ton, a decrease of about 6.00%; the price of praseodymium-neodymium metal decreased from about RMB 915,000/ton to around RMB 860,000/ton, a decrease of about 6.01%; the price of terbium oxide decreased from about RMB 6,120,000/ton to around RMB 6,070,000/ton, a decrease of about 0.82%; the price of dysprosium iron alloy decreased from about RMB 1,310,000/ton to around RMB 1,250,000/ton, a decrease of about 4.58%.
In terms of news, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that from January to April 2026, the added value of industrial enterprises above designated size nationwide increased by 5.6% year-on-year. By three major sectors, the added value of the mining industry increased by 5.5% year-on-year, the manufacturing industry increased by 5.8%, and the production and supply of electricity, heat, gas and water increased by 4.5%. The added value of the equipment manufacturing industry increased by 8.7% year-on-year, while the added value of the high-tech manufacturing industry increased by 12.6%, respectively 3.1 and 7.0 percentage points faster than the overall added value growth of industrial enterprises above designated size. In terms of products, the output of 3D printing equipment, lithium-ion batteries and industrial robots increased by 50.9%, 36.0% and 25.7% year-on-year respectively.
Price of rare earth products on May 22, 2026
Images of erbium oxide
