China’s rare earth magnet exports fall 1.6% in March

China’s exports of rare earth magnets in March slipped 1.6% from a year earlier but climbed 10.5% month-on-month, customs data showed on Monday.

Outbound shipments from China, the world’s largest producer of rare earth magnets, were 5,238 metric tons last month, data from the General Administration of Customs showed.

Germany, South Korea, Vietnam, the United States and India were China’s top five rare earth magnet export destinations last month.

Exports to the US in March fell for a fifth consecutive month, down 9.5% from February to a nine-month low of 406 tons, and were 30.6% lower than a year earlier.

In the first quarter of 2026, China’s exports of rare earth magnet climbed 4.8% to 16,001 tons year-on-year.

(By Amy Lv and Joe Cash; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)