1.       On 4^th Apr 2006, the Ministry of Land and Resources issued a circular, explicitly setting a controlled target for total rare earth extraction volume in 2006. Industry statistics showed that in 2006, extracted rare earth oxide in China amounted to 86,620 tonnes, including light rare earth of 78,200 tonnes (a quota of 46,000 tonnes allocated to Inner Mongolia) and medium to heavy rare earth of 8,320 tonnes. This was the first rare earth extraction target issued by the Chinese government.

2.       In terms of rare earth exporting, government measures include restrictions on export quota allocations, abolition of export rebates on rare earth metals, rare earth oxide and rare earth salt products, 10% export duties on rare earth oxide, rare earth salt products and some rare earth metals. Total export quotas for the rare earth industry were 45,000 tonnes in 2006, a reduction of 6,800 tonnes from the total export volume of 51,800 tonnes recorded in 2005.   

3.       On 6^th Nov 2006, the 2007 Rare Earth Production Planning Meeting was held by the Rare Earth Office of the State Development and Reform Commission. The meeting established a clear mandate that from 2007, rare earth ore products and products from smelting and separating productions would be subject to indicative plans, which are individually allocated to provincial authorities and rare earth enterprises.    　　

4.       On 19^th Jan 2007, nine ministries, including the Ministry of Land and Resources, jointly issued Suggestions on Consolidating Resources Mining Operations. It explicitly demanded the rare earth industry in China to be consolidated, further tightening the macro control.

5.       From 1^st June 2007, China started to increase or impose export duties on 142 resource commodity items. A 10% export duty has been imposed on rare earth metals, refined lead, dysprosium oxide, etc, while the export duty for metal ores of nickel, chromium, tungsten, manganese, molybdenum and rare earth has been increased from 5-10% to 10-15%.  

6.       On 28^th Apr 2007, a high profile rare earth business restructuring case in Mianning County of Sichuan Province was publicised, signalling the effectiveness of the authorities' macro control measures. The Mianning County authority announced that by the end of Nov 2007, assets from eight local rare earth extraction companies and twelve dressing companies would be revaluated and liquidated. All the assets would then be either bought out by the government or converted into shares of a new state-owned entity, and the government would introduce a financially and technically strong company from outside to operate the extracting, dressing and processing activities. During this resources consolidating period, all the existing mining production and transportation activities would be paused.          

Various measures have indicated the authorities' determination to rectify and consolidate the rare earth industry in China. And as the demand is relatively more stable than supply, rare earth prices in 2008 should be able to keep firming.
　　
Neodymium iron boron (NdFeB) market

China's rich rare earth resources and low labour costs have attracted a massive transfer of global NdFeB (a composite material for making magnetic products) productions into China. China's sintered NdFeB and bonded NdFeB output reached 33,000 tonnes and 1800 tonnes respectively in 2005. Industry forecast indicated that from 2005 to 2010, NdFeB output in China would grow at 15% annually.  

Source: cn.chemnet.com