The increasing demand for rechargeable batteries from portable devices is estimated, to drive the global rare earth metals market to $xx Billion by 2023

During the two decades, there has been a boom in demand for rare earth metals across various applications. The use of rare earth elements in computers and cell phones has grown rapidly. Many rechargeable batteries are made with rare earth compounds. Demand for the batteries is being driven by demand for portable electronic devices such as cell phones, readers, portable computers, and cameras.

The Rare Earth Metals market is expected to reach $xx million by 2023, growing at a CAGR of x%. Rare earth is used as catalysts, phosphors, and polishing compounds. These are used for air pollution control, illuminated screens on electronic devices, and the polishing of optical-quality glass. All of these products are expected to experience rising demand. Rare Earth Metals strategic importance is indicated by their use in emerging and diverse technologies that are becoming increasingly more significant in today's society.

There is a growing demand for automobiles, consumer electronics, energy-efficient lighting, and catalysts, which are expected to rise demand for rare earth metals. Globally, China has dominated the world production of rare earth metal. However, in recent years, China has reduced exports of these metals to other countries as its domestic requirements of rare earth metal have increased. It has increased the shipments overseas by 4 percent year-on-year to more than 53,000 tonnes in 2018. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the demand for critical rare earth metal such as Neodymium, Europium, Terbium, Dysprosium, and Yttrium is expected to grow in the near future. Additionally, the environmental hazard associated with mining has compelled countries like China to impose a ban on excessive mining activities in order to reduce resource exploitation.

Key Insights on Rare Earth Metals Market

· The prices of rare earth metals used in electric and hybrid vehicles has rebounded in recent months, driven by increased demand for infrastructure development in China, and environmental regulations that promote greener cars.

· Japan has discovered 16 million tons of rare earth metal deposits under the seabed near Minami-Torishima. The deposits contain dysprosium and yttrium minerals, which are key components of hybrid cars and lasers. According to Naohiro Niimura, a partner at Market Risk Advisory, “Japan’s discovery will not affect the rare earth metal market at all as the production will be less as compared to China’s output. Further, Naohiro Niimura added, "there is no technology to extract the resources from deep underwater, and the cost would be too high.”

· Due to uncertainty over supplies and concerns of environmental degradation, the companies are taking steps to wean themselves off rare-earth. In February 2018, Toyota Motor said it found a way to make magnets of an electric car that use less neodymium. Moreover, in 2017, Apple Inc. announced that it will stop using newly mined metals and will focus on recycled sources.

· Asia Pacific accounted for the largest market share, with revenue of $xx billion, in 2018. According to Geoscience Australia, China produces 87% of rare earth elements followed by the U.S. by 6%, India by 2%, Malaysia and Brazil by less than 1%, and remaining by 4%.

· Globally, rare earth supply chain changed dramatically with China’s rare earth reserves declined to around 40%. Further, the appearance of rare earth plants in Thailand, Japan, and other Southeast Asian nations has shifted the trend of rare earth industrial from China to Southeast countries. 

There are many products in the market involving this technology. Further, capacity expansions by leading vendors including Arafura Resources, Alkane Resources Ltd., Avalon Rare Metals Inc., Quest Rare Minerals Ltd., Greenland Minerals and Energy Limited, and others will fuel the market growth during the forecast period. Rare Earth mining companies have utilized mergers and acquisitions (Lynas Corporation, Ltd.: acquired by Wesfarmers Limited, and Shenhua Group merged with China Guodian Corporation) to augment entry into related markets and enhance core competencies through additions to product portfolio and leveraging capabilities of acquired companies to gain a foothold in the markets.

The key growth driver of rare earth metals is permanent magnets as the permanent magnets market saw oversupply in 2018. The oversupply was due to small-middle sized enterprises continued enlarging production, which resulted in intense competition among magnet manufacturers. The two key rare piles of earth used for permanent magnets in EV motors are neodymium (Nd) and praseodymium (Pr). Despite trade war between China and U.S. threatening supply neodymium, and praseodymium rare earth metal will see surging demand from the EV boom. In a 100% EV, world demand for the rare magnet earth is forecast by UBS Group A.G to increase by 655%. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the electric vehicles will grow from 3 million to 125 million by 2030. In 2017, IEA estimated there were 3.1 million electric vehicles in use, which was up by 54 percent from the previous year.