In China's seven emerging strategic industries, basically every industry needs to use rare earths, whether it is high-end manufacturing, new energy, new materials and other emerging technology industries, or environmental protection and energy conservation, modern transportation, new energy vehicles, etc. In recent years, under the background of the Chinese government's strong support for the development of emerging industries, the rare earth market will be further developed.
China has always been a leading country in rare earth reserves and rare earth supply. According to the data from the "Panorama Atlas of China's Rare Earth Industry in 2019", China's rare earth consumption is about 57% of the world's total, ranking first in the world; Japan's rare earth consumption It accounts for about 21% of the global total, ranking second.
In June 2020, Chinese corporate activities recorded the fastest growth rate since December 2019, and China’s emerging industries have become the main factor driving the growth of rare earth demand. In August of this year, the overall rare earth market performed well, and the prices of many products rose to varying degrees.
China’s seven emerging industries refer to the seven areas defined by the national strategic emerging industry planning and central and local supporting policies, including “energy conservation and environmental protection, emerging information industries, bio-industry, new energy, new energy vehicles, high-end equipment Manufacturing and new materials".
In terms of quantity and volume, the future industry represented by emerging industries may be the smallest part of China’s industrial structure. However, from the perspective of potential and prospects, cultivating future industries is to seize the opportunity for the industrialization of cutting-edge technologies and strengthen enterprises’ Core competitiveness.
At present, China's new energy vehicles, infrastructure and pharmaceutical industries are the main consumption areas of rare earths.
In the field of new energy vehicles, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released the "New Energy Vehicle Industry Development Plan (2021-2035)" (draft for comments) issued in December last year. It pointed out that the production and sales of new energy vehicles and new vehicles accounted for 20% of the original plan. Increase to 25%. By 2025, China will increase the sales of new energy vehicles from 20% announced in 2017 to 25%.
The application of rare earth elements in emerging fields
The development of new energy vehicles is bound to become the general trend of the future development of the automobile industry, and the development of this industry will surely drive the vigorous development of related industries such as the rare earth industry. Especially for hybrid vehicles, electric vehicles, and fuel cell vehicles, miniaturized and high-power drive motors are necessary, and these motors must use a large amount of rare earth permanent magnet materials.
In terms of 5G technology, 5G technology can not only improve the flexibility and efficiency of production and operation of rare earth companies, but also help rare earth companies realize “smart production lines”. 5G is not a sudden advance or mutation of a certain technology, but an innovative integration of a series of new technologies. Apart from the United States, China has already taken the initiative in 5G technology.
Take a 5G mobile phone as an example. Its camera uses rare earth lanthanum optical glass, which contains more lanthana/lanthanum oxide (La2O3). Lanthana/lanthanum oxide has the characteristics of high refractive index and low dispersion. Therefore, it is a new high-quality optical glass material necessary for the production of read-write lenses and imaging lenses for optoelectronic products. The lens is miniaturized and lightweight.
In the field of medicine, rare earth elements and their compounds have been widely used in the fields of medicine and biochemistry in recent years due to their special physical and chemical properties.
Such as: the anti-inflammatory effect of rare earth cerium salt is the main factor to improve the effect of treating burns; low-dose rare earth chloride has an inhibitory effect on cancer cells and does not damage normal cells; moderate amounts of rare earth complexes such as lanthanum, cerium, scandium and Intravenous injection of yttrium chloride can prevent and improve arteriosclerosis, such as the aorta, coronary arteries and cerebral blood circulation; rare earth permanent magnet materials are the key raw materials for the production of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
The booming emerging industries are the next blue ocean in the rare earth industry. The development of many sub-industries has considerable demand for rare earths, which means that the rare earth industry can open up more emerging markets.