Rare earths, a global giant should be created in China
Audio 01:22
Long procession of trucks loaded with coal, metals and rare earths in the outskirts of Baotou, China.
© Lei Yang / DR
By: Altin Lazaj
2 min
Global rare metals giant set to emerge in China, announcement could fall this month,
Wall Street Journal
reveals
.
This new company will be created from the merger of several Chinese state-owned companies in the rare metals sector.
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The new company will be called in French "the Chinese group of rare earths".
It will be based in Jiangxi province in southern China, known for its rare metal resources.
The idea of the Chinese authorities is to bring together in a single entity the major players who work in the extraction and refining of these minerals in order to better control this strategic activity, reveals the
Wall Street Journal
.
The Middle Kingdom is the world's largest producer and exporter, half of the world's reserves are found in the Chinese subsoil.
Indeed, the whole world depends on China for the supply of rare metals, essential elements in advanced technologies and for the ecological transition.
A merger without consequences for Western countries
Should the creation of such a juggernaut worry Western countries?
Having a monopoly on the market, the Chinese authorities could indeed use it as a pressure weapon in trade tensions with Washington and Brussels.
This is not the opinion of Didier Julienne, metals expert.
According to him, “
this is just an ordinary industrial movement that started 10
years ago, when the Chinese authorities started to phase out small rare earth companies because they were obsolete, were working. badly and were polluting
”.
This consolidation process has resulted in the concentration of the sector in the hands of a few large Chinese groups.
And for consumer countries, the creation of this world giant of rare metals should not change much "
because these large companies supposed to merge such as China Minmetals Corp, Aluminum Corp.
of China and Ganzhou Rare Earth Group are already under the control of the Chinese state
, ”said Didier Julienne.
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