中國以外稀土磁鐵生產競爭揭開序幕（1/2）

Recently the New York Times reported the following:

The Race Is on to Make Rare Earth Magnets Outside China (1/2)

After Beijing exerted its power over the valuable magnets as leverage, other countries started to add production, but only incrementally. And China is far ahead.

By Keith Bradsher

Sept. 19, 2025

Updated 6:30 a.m. ET

Nearly six months ago, China sent an unmistakable message about its grip on critical supply chains. Its leaders suspended exports of powerful rare earth magnets that many industries around the world can’t live without.

The move gave renewed urgency to efforts begun in recent years to develop alternatives. In the United States, four factories to make rare earth magnets are finishing construction or starting to produce magnets. An especially large factory has just opened in Eastern Europe.

But the scramble since April has served only to underline the lead that China has after three decades of heavy investment, and how hard it will be for the rest of the world to catch up quickly.

China has used its chokehold on rare earth magnet supplies to gain leverage in trade negotiations with President Trump and with the European Union. Since the initial cutoff, Beijing has allowed some rare earth exports but now keeps tighter reins on them. As a result, Mr. Trump has been more cautious about raising tariffs on China than on countries like India and Brazil, which were not original targets for his tariffs.

China has also restricted rare earth magnet exports to Europe to pressure the European Union to reconsider tariffs on Chinese electric cars.

“Many companies are still encountering significant challenges, with some even threatened by or already experiencing production stoppages” for lack of rare earth magnets, said Jens Eskelund, president of the European Chamber of Commerce in China. Automakers and defense contractors have been the hardest hit in Europe and the United States.

Concern over China’s dominance in rare earths began to bubble up several years ago in agencies of the U.S. government and European Union. Several of the projects now approaching completion were helped along by government financial incentives.

On Friday, the Canadian company Neo Performance Materials opened a factory in Narva, Estonia, that in one fell swoop has nearly doubled the available capacity of Europe and the United States to make magnets. Neo has also installed much of the equipment needed to more than double its factory’s output over the next several years.

Still, the gap with China is large.

North America and Europe together buy nearly 40,000 tons of rare earth magnets annually for cars, robots, drones and other products, almost all of it purchased from China, according to Adamas Intelligence, a firm in Toronto that tracks the industry.

Countries outside Asia have been manufacturing fewer than 2,000 tons of rare earth magnets a year, mainly in Germany and Finland. Japanese companies have been making an additional 25,000 tons annually in Japan and Vietnam, primarily for automakers and other customers in Japan and South Korea.

China, by contrast, produces more than 200,000 tons of rare earth magnets a year. Many of the magnets go into motors and other devices made in Chinese factories as part of China’s vast exports of manufactured goods

A global game of catch-up

Companies working to increase production outside China are making progress, but it’s slow.

VAC Group of Germany, which has been Europe’s main rare earth magnet manufacturer, plans to commission a factory in Sumter, S.C., next month with a capacity of nearly 2,000 tons a year, said Erik Eschen, the company’s chief executive.

Using American workers who did up to 18 months of training at VAC’s factories in Germany, the company expects to run the South Carolina facility at full capacity by the end of March, he said. It could nearly double capacity in 18 months, he added.

MP Materials, which owns the Mountain Pass rare earths mine on the California-Nevada border, is finishing a 1,000-ton factory in Texas. It will initially supply General Motors. MP Materials intends an expansion and a second factory to bring total annual production to 10,000 tons within a few years. The company got a boost this summer when the Defense Department agreed to invest $400 million.

(to be continued)

Translation

中國以外稀土磁鐵生產競爭揭開序幕（1/2）

在北京利用其對高價磁鐵的掌控力作為籌碼後，其他國家也開始增加產量，但只是逐步地漸進。而中國遙遙領先。

近六個月前，中國明確釋放了對關鍵供應鏈控制的訊號。中國領導人暫停了全球許多產業賴以生存的強力稀土磁鐵的出口。

此舉再次凸顯了近年來開發替代品的迫切性。在美國，四家稀土磁鐵生產工廠即將完工或開始生產。東歐一家規模較大的工廠剛剛開幕。

但自四月以來的爭奪戰，反而凸顯了中國在三十年巨額投資後所取得的領先地位，以及世界其他國家想要迅速趕上中國將有多麼困難。

中國利用其對稀土磁鐵供應的控制，在與特朗普總統和歐盟的貿易談判中獲得籌碼。自最初禁止稀土出口以來，北京方面允許了部分稀土出口，但現在對其控制更為嚴格。因此，特朗普對提高對華關稅的態度比對印度和巴西等國家更為謹慎，而這些國家最初並非是特朗普加徵關稅的目標。

中國也限制稀土磁鐵向歐洲出口，以迫使歐盟重新考慮對中國電動車徵收關稅。

中國歐盟商會會長Jens Eskelund 表示： “許多公司仍然面臨重大挑戰，有些公司甚至面臨停產威脅，甚至已經面臨停產” ，原因是稀土磁鐵短缺。在歐洲和美國，汽車製造商和國防承包商受到的打擊最為嚴重。

幾年前，美國政府和歐盟各機構開始對中國在稀土領域的主導地位感到擔憂。目前即將完工的幾個項目是得益於政府的財政激勵措施。

上週五，加拿大公司 Neo Performance Materials在愛沙尼亞納爾瓦開設了一家工廠，一舉使歐洲和美國的磁鐵產能幾乎翻了一番。 Neo 也安裝了未來幾年工廠產量翻倍所需的大部分設備。

然而，與中國的差距仍然很大。

據多倫多一家追蹤稀土產業的公司 Adamas Intelligence稱，北美和歐洲每年共購買近4萬噸稀土磁鐵，用於汽車、機器人、無人機和其他產品，幾乎全部從中國購買。

亞洲以外的國家每年生產的稀土磁鐵少於2,000噸，主要集中在德國和芬蘭。日本公司每年在日本和越南額外生產2.5萬噸稀土磁鐵，主要供應日本和韓國的汽車製造商和其他客戶。

相比之下，中國每年生產超過20萬噸稀土磁鐵。這些磁鐵中許多用於中國工廠生產的馬達和其他設備，是中國大量出口製成品的一部分。

 

一場全球追趕的遊戲

致力於在中國以外地區增產的公司正在取得進展，但進度緩慢。

德國VAC集團一直是歐洲主要的稀土磁鐵製造商，該公司執行長 Erik Eschen 表示，該公司計劃下個月在南卡羅來納州薩 Sumter市投產一家年產能近2,000噸的工廠。

他表示，該公司將使用在VAC德國工廠接受長達18個月培訓的美國工人，預計南卡羅來納州的工廠將在3月底達到最大運作量。他還補充說，該工廠的產能可能在18個月內翻倍。

擁有位於加州和內華達州邊界的Mountain Pass稀土礦的 MP Materials公司，目前正在德克薩斯州完成一座產能為1,000噸的工廠的建設。該工廠最初將為通用汽車供貨。MP Materials 計劃擴建工廠並建造第二座工廠，以便在幾年內將年產量提升至1萬噸。今年夏天，美國國防部同意投資4億美元，這對該公司的發展起到了推動作用。

（待續）