Quotas for Sale
November 2, 2010
Reuters reports that smuggling of rare earths is a booming industry. According to an article by Lucy Hornby, China's Ministry of Commerce estimates that 20,000 tons were smuggled in 2009, and 2010 could see a 50% increase to 30,000 tons. For comparison, the export quota for 2010 is 30,258 tons.
In an interview, Tiger Pan (Managing Director of Asian Metals) said, "The price of an export permit used to be cheap, but now it's really expensive -- expensive enough that some companies would rather sell their quotas, because you can make more than by exporting."
Read the article here:
