China has said it has toughened rare earth export rules to allow only producers that meet environmental protection laws and international standards to ship the precious elements out of the country.
The rules are Beijing’s latest move to rein in rare earths exports, amid complaints from foreign high-tech producers that the country is restricting shipments of the elements, used in everything from iPods to cars.
China has a near-global monopoly in exports of rare earth minerals — last year, it produced 97 percent of world supply. It has denied any embargo on shipments, including to Japan, amid a diplomatic row between the Asian neighbors.
Beijing will “strictly regulate rare earth exporters”, according to rules published by the commerce ministry on Thursday.
The ministry said it would cancel export licenses for companies found to have violated rules on quotas, or to have failed to follow industry policies or comply with environmental protection rules. To qualify for export quotas, firms must show they meet national and local pollution standards and have acquired ISO 9000 quality certification.
The International Standards Organization certification measures manufacturers’ practices against global quality benchmarks.
China is home to only a third of the world’s rare earth reserves, but in the past decade nearly all other countries stopped mining them due to environmental concerns and cheaper Chinese competition.
However, China’s moves to restrict exports have spurred other countries such as the US and Australia — which have 15 and 5 percent of reserves respectively — to resume production.
Since 2006, China has cut export quotas on rare earths by 5 to 10 percent a year. Production has also been slashed amid concerns that Chinese supplies could run out in 15 years.
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