# Rare earths: Trading

No futures, just private deals and agency prices

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/rare_earths/trading/

What this tab covers How and where it is bought and sold: who buys and sells, exchanges and benchmarks, contract types, the big trading houses and how prices are discovered.

There is no liquid futures market for rare earths. Most material moves under bilateral contracts between miners, separators and magnet makers. These are priced off assessments by agencies such as Argus, Asian Metal, Fastmarkets and Benchmark; USGS uses Argus free-on-board quotes. Chinese domestic prices effectively set the world level. Deals are opaque, and specifications vary by element and purity. Western governments increasingly act as buyers or lenders, as with a 2025 US loan of $150 million for a heavy-rare-earth separation plant at Mountain Pass.

#### Where it is bought (buyers)

- Magnet makers in China, Japan (Shin-Etsu, Proterial, TDK) and increasingly the US and India buy NdPr oxide and metal under term contracts
- Refiners and catalyst makers buy lanthanum and cerium compounds
- Chinese separators import concentrates and mixed carbonates from Myanmar, Laos, Malaysia and the US; China took 60.5% of world rare-earth compound import value in 2024 (Comtrade)
- Governments buy for stockpiles: the US FY2025 plan included 300 t NdPr oxide and 450 t NdFeB magnet block

#### Where it is sold (sellers)

- Chinese state groups (China Northern Rare Earth, China Rare Earth Group) sell oxides and metals, subject to export licences
- Lynas sells NdPr and heavy oxides from Malaysia, largely to Japanese and other Asian magnet makers
- MP Materials sells NdPr oxide and, from 2025, magnets in the US
- IREL sells rare-earth compounds in India and to Japan through Toyotsu Rare Earths India

#### Exchanges and benchmarks

| Venue | Contract | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| **None liquid** | No LME, CME or MCX contract of note | Chinese spot platforms exist, but world trade is bilateral |

#### Contract types

- Multi-year offtake agreements between miners and magnet makers, often with government lenders (e.g. Japan's support for Lynas)
- Term contracts priced on monthly or quarterly PRA averages
- Government price floors and offtake (US Department of War NdPr floor of $110/kg with MP Materials, 2025)
- Export licences required by China for listed elements since April 2025

#### Top trading houses

- Toyota Tsusho (India processing, Japan offtake)
- Sojitz (Lynas offtake partner with Japan's JOGMEC)
- Shenghe Resources (Chinese buyer of overseas feed)

#### How prices are discovered

- Chinese domestic spot assessments by SMM and Asian Metal set the global level
- Argus (used by USGS), Fastmarkets and Benchmark Mineral Intelligence assess FOB China and non-Chinese prices

## Other sections

- [Summary](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/rare_earths/index.md)
- [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/rare_earths/overview/index.md)
- [Correlation](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/rare_earths/correlation/index.md)
- [Extraction](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/rare_earths/extraction/index.md)
- [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/rare_earths/production/index.md)
- [Stocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/rare_earths/stocks/index.md)
- [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/rare_earths/cycles/index.md)
- [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/rare_earths/movement/index.md)
- [Criticality](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/rare_earths/criticality/index.md)
- [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/rare_earths/characteristics/index.md)
- [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/rare_earths/emissions/index.md)
- [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/rare_earths/links/index.md)