Supply crunch

India needs a strategy for rare earths

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Like many other countries, India is suffering collateral damage in the United States-China trade war. In April, responding to various trade restrictions and tariff impositions from American President Donald Trump, Beijing announced that certain heavy and medium rare earths and related magnets would be subject to export licences. Given the difficulty of obtaining licences and the complexity of demonstrating the end use of any particular shipment, this has in many cases amounted to an effective ban, which has affected Indian manufacturing. Beijing controls about 50 per cent of officially recognised reserves, 70 per cent of extraction capability, and 90 per cent of processing capacity. The minerals, in turn, are vital for products ranging from automobiles to solar panels. Thus, a large number of Indian sectors have to look elsewhere.