How US buyers dodge China's minerals ban

Thai, Mexican firms ship antimony to US

- ALESSANDRO PARODI LEWIS JACKSON ASHITHA SHIVAPRASAD

Unusually large quantities of antimony — a metal used in batteries, chips and flame retardants — have poured into the United States from Thailand and Mexico since China barred US shipments last year, according to customs and shipping records, which show at least one Chinese-owned company is involved in the trade.

China dominates the supply of antimony as well as gallium and germanium, used in telecommunications, semiconductors and military technology. Beijing banned exports of these minerals to the US on Dec 3 following Washington's crackdown on China's chip sector.

The resulting shift in trade flows underscores the scramble for critical minerals and China's struggle to enforce its curbs as it vies with the US for economic, military and technological supremacy.

Specifically, trade data illustrate a rerouting of US shipments via third countries — an issue that Chinese officials have acknowledged.

Three industry experts corroborated that assessment, including two executives at two US companies who told Reuters they had obtained restricted minerals from China in recent months.

The US imported 3,834 metric tonnes of antimony oxides from Thailand and Mexico between December and April, US customs data show. That was more than almost the previous three years combined. Thailand and Mexico, meanwhile, shot into the top three export markets for Chinese antimony this year, according to Chinese customs data through May. Neither made the top 10 in 2023, the last full year before Beijing restricted exports. Thailand and Mexico each have a single antimony smelter, according to consultancy RFC Ambrian, and the latter's only reopened in April. Neither country mines meaningful quantities of the metal.