Prices of Chinese Rare Earths Seen Falling

Prices of rare earths from China have been reported posting a dropping trend this week.

According to Metal Miner, prices of Chinese rare earths neodymium oxide, cerium oxide, dysprosium oxide, yttria, praseodymium oxide and europium oxide fell further compared from last week.

The week's biggest loser was neodymium oxide which fell 4.3 per cent from last week. Neodymium is used in hybrid car electric motors and generators, cell phones, ipods and wind turbines.

Cerium oxide, the most abundant of the rare earth elements and one of the rare earths found in houses in equipment such as colored TVs, fluorescent lamps, energy-saving lamps and glasses, for the third consecutive week, dropped 4.1 per cent.

Next was dysprosium oxide which fell 4 per cent over the past week as well. Dysprosium is used to make compact discs and lasers.

Prices of yttria and praseodymium oxide both tumbled by 2.8 per cent, while europium oxide sank 2.3 per cent.

This week's only gainer was terbium oxide, at a feeble 0.8 per cent. Though this particular rare element does not possess many great uses, it is easily available. One use is in television screens. It is the element that helps the screen display the colors more clearly.

Lanthanum oxide and rare earth carbonate were inactive movers as it remained essentially flat from last week.