China’s largest rare earths producer has said it has won official approval to set up the nation’s first exchange for the coveted minerals, in a move analysts said would further regulate the market.
The government of Inner Mongolia has approved the establishment of the exchange in the city of Baotou, Baotou Steel Rare Earth Hi-Tech Co (包鋼稀土高科技) said in a statement filed with the Shanghai bourse on Thursday.
The Inner Mongolia regional government has ordered the rare earths producer and Inner Mongolia Hi-Tech Holdings Co Ltd (內蒙古高新控) to set up a company “as soon as possible” to operate the exchange, according to the statement.
The exchange is not allowed to deal in futures trading, it said, meaning it would only be able to handle spot transactions of the minerals — 17 elements critical to making everything from iPods to electric cars and missiles.
Sang Yongliang (桑永亮), a Shanghai-based analyst with Guotai Junan Securities (國泰君安證券), said the Baotou bourse was “aimed at strengthening China’s rare earth pricing power.”
“It will also make market information more transparent. Currently, trades are quite dispersed and traders set prices with their downstream customers separately, which has made the market a bit chaotic,” Sang said.
China produces more than 95 percent of the world’s rare earths. State media has reported that Baotou holds 87 percent of the country’s reserves of the elements and accounts for about half of the nation’s rare earths exports.
Beijing has taken a series of measures to tighten its grip over the highly sought-after minerals, citing environmental concerns, leading to a surge in prices and triggering mounting complaints from foreign buyers.
The government has cut rare earths exports for the first half of this year by 35 percent compared with a year earlier, having slashed the quota by 72 percent for the second half of last year.
It has also set tougher environmental standards for the industry, restricted production capacity in projects that separate rare earths from crude ores and raised taxes.
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan
CUSTOMERS’ BURDEN: TSMC already has operations in the US and is a foundry, so any tariff increase would mostly affect US customers, not the company, the minister said Taiwanese manufacturers are “not afraid” of US tariffs, but are concerned about being affected more heavily than regional economic competitors Japan and South Korea, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said. “Taiwan has many advantages that other countries do not have, the most notable of which is its semiconductor ecosystem,” Kuo said. The US “must rely on Taiwan” to boost its microchip manufacturing capacities, Kuo said in an interview ahead of his one-year anniversary in office tomorrow. Taiwan has submitted a position paper under Section 232 of the US Trade Expansion Act to explain the “complementary relationship” between Taiwan and the US
RSS