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BERLIN — Several European parts plants and production lines have been shut down because of rare earth shortages caused by China imposing restrictions on exports, Europe’s auto supplier association CLEPA said, with the situation likely to worsen.
Of the hundreds of requests for export licenses made by suppliers since early April, only a quarter have been granted so far, CLEPA said, with some requests rejected on what the association described as “highly procedural grounds.”
“Procedures seem to vary from province to province and in several instances IP-sensitive information has been requested,” CLEPA said, adding that if the process was not streamlined soon, more plants would likely be affected in the next three to four weeks as inventories depleted.
CLEPA did not identify the companies that have shut down production.
The shortages threaten to cause havoc in the supply chains of automakers including Volkswagen Group, Mercedes-Benz and BMW, as well as suppliers including Robert Bosch and others that rely on rare earths for applications such as motors for electric cars.
Germany’s VDA auto lobby group said the export restrictions posed a serious risk to the industry. Slow granting of export licenses, as well as lags in customs clearance of exports with valid licenses, were causing significant problems for automakers, VDA President Hildegard Mueller said.
“Although some licenses have now been granted, this is currently insufficient to ensure smooth production. If the situation is not changed quickly, production delays and even production outages can no longer be ruled out,” Mueller said.
BMW said part of its supplier network was affected by the shortages, but its own plants were running as normal.
Global rare earths production
(BLOOMBERG)
ZF Friedrichshafen’s board member for electrified propulsion, said the supplier has largely been able to get needed permits from China. In a media briefing, he said he worries though that the situation eventually could resemble the computer-chip shortage during the COVID-19 pandemic, which wiped out millions of vehicles from automakers’ production plans.
Robert Bosch said bottlenecks in the supply of rare earths that are essential for electric motors and consumer goods were affecting its suppliers, which had to furnish a lot of detailed information to get export licences.
“The process for our suppliers to apply for export licences for various rare earths since April, is complex and time-consuming, partly due to the need to collect and provide a lot of information,” a Bosch spokesperson said.
Mercedes production chief, Joerg Burzer, said the company is closely coordinating with its tier 1, tier 2 and tier 3 suppliers about building rare earth stockpiles even though the carmaker has not seen any impact from a shortage.
China said to use rare earths as leverage against Trump tariffs
China’s decision in April to suspend exports of a wide range of rare earths and related magnets has upended the supply chains central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies and military contractors.
The move underscores China’s dominance of the critical mineral industry and is seen as leverage by China in its trade war with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Shipments have been halted at many Chinese ports while license applications make their way through the Chinese regulatory system.
Chinese state media reported last week that China was considering relaxing the curbs for European semiconductor companies while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said it would strengthen cooperation with other countries over its controls.
However, rare-earth magnet exports from China halved in April as exporters grappled with the opaque licensing scheme.
BMW, suppliers research alternatives to rare earths
There are few alternatives to China.
Automakers from GM to BMW and major suppliers including ZF and BorgWarner are researching or have developed motors with low- to zero rare earth content in a bid to cut their reliance on China, but few have managed to scale production to bring down costs.
BMW has deployed a magnet-free electric motor for its latest generation of electric cars, but still requires rare earths for smaller motors powering components such as windshield wipers or car window rollers.
“There is no solution for the next three years except to come to an agreement with China,” said Andreas Kroll, managing director of Noble Elements, rare earths importer for medium-sized companies and startups without their own inventories.
“China controls practically 99.8 percent of global production of heavy rare earths. Other countries can only produce these in minimal quantities, virtually on a laboratory scale,” Kroll said.
GM, Toyota, Hyundai raised concerns with Trump administration
Frank Fannon, a minerals industry consultant and former U.S. assistant secretary of state for energy resources during Trump’s first term, said the global disruptions are not shocking to those paying attention.
“I don’t think anyone should be surprised how this is playing out. We have a production challenge (in the U.S.) and we need to leverage our whole of government approach to secure resources and ramp up domestic capability as soon as possible. The time horizon to do this was yesterday,” Fannon said.
In May, the head of the U.S. trade group representing General Motors, Toyota, VW, Hyundai and other major automakers raised similar concerns in a letter to the Trump administration.
“Without reliable access to these elements and magnets, automotive suppliers will be unable to produce critical automotive components, including automatic transmissions, throttle bodies, alternators, various motors, sensors, seat belts, speakers, lights, motors, power steering, and cameras,” the Alliance for Automotive Innovation wrote in the letter.
Diplomats, automakers and executives from Europe, Japan and India are urgently seeking meetings with Beijing officials to push for faster approval of rare earth magnet exports, sources told Reuters on June 3.
What are rare earths?
Rare earths are a group of 17 silvery-white elements. One of their most important uses is in making magnets that power motion for cars, cell phones, missiles and other electronics. While not rare in the sense of being uncommon, they tend to occur in small quantities or mixed with other minerals, making extraction difficult and costly.
China mines about 60 percent of the world’s rare earths and makes 90 percent of rare earth magnets. It sets quotas on output, smelting, and separation, which are monitored as a barometer of global supply.
One of the most difficult processing steps is separating individual rare earths from each other. While U.S. scientists developed a process called solvent extraction in the 1950s, radioactive waste made it unpopular in the U.S.
Spurred by the government, China has expanded the industry since the 1980s, spending the last 30 years mastering solvent extraction, while cheap labor and relatively lax environmental standards give it a cost advantage
Qualche dettaglio in più sulla crisi delle forniture di materiali rari da parte della Cina. Naturalmente colpitebbe tutte le industrie del mondo tranne la loro. Meno male che c'è Trump, siamo così stanchi di vincere sempre.
Ultima modifica di daimlerchrysler il mer giu 04, 2025 9:17 pm, modificato 1 volta in totale.
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