Taiwan is likely to purchase rare earths from the US in the future, and is also in talks with Australia and Canada to strengthen global rare earth supply chain security, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday.
Taiwan and the US last month concluded the sixth Economic Prosperity Partnership Dialogue, during which both sides signed a joint statement endorsing the principles of the Pax Silica Declaration, pledging to deepen cooperation in areas including critical minerals.
At the time, Kung said the two sides would establish working groups to advance cooperation in areas including artificial intelligence, digital infrastructure, critical materials and drone supply.
Photo: Reuters
As Taiwan lacks domestic sources of critical minerals, cooperation with Washington is aimed at securing stable supplies, he said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would soon send officials from the Geological Survey and Mining Management Agency to the US to assess rare earth resources and explore potential cooperation.
The rare earth supply chain can broadly be divided into three stages — mining, initial separation and refining — and Taiwan’s international cooperation would focus mainly on mining and initial separation, Kung said.
The materials would then be shipped back to Taiwan for further refining, which would be handled in Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) laboratories, he said.
The ministry previously estimated annual domestic rare earth demand at about 1,500 tonnes, and expects the ITRI refining capabilities to supply about one-third of that amount, he said.
However, based on latest assessments and stronger economic activity, demand could rise to about 2,000 tonnes by 2030, prompting the ministry to raise its target to meeting half of that need domestically, he said.
Thanks to the ITRI’s refining capabilities, the US has also expressed interest in Taiwan’s refining techniques, he added.
Kung also addressed the issue of vehicle tariffs, saying that based on the ministry’s latest assessment, Taiwan cutting tariffs on US vehicles to zero would reduce the domestic auto industry’s production value by 1.94 percent, or about NT$4 billion (US$127.1 million).
The tariff change is expected to affect European and Japanese luxury imports rather than locally made cars, which account for 51 percent, or about 210,000 vehicles, of the domestic market, he said.
Kung said locally made vehicles are of export potential, citing Kuozui Motors Ltd (國瑞汽車), which has long produced vehicles for Toyota Motor Corp for shipments to the Middle East and other markets.
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