China’s Global Exports of Rare Earth Elements and Rare Earth Permanent Magnets

China continued to leverage its control of the rare earth supply chain in January and February 2026, significantly restricting shipments of export-controlled rare earth compounds and metals to the United States and cutting back export-controlled compound and metal exports to Japan.

Key findings from Silverado’s latest dashboard:

Key Country Trends

United States: China’s exports of fully export-controlled rare earth compounds and metals to the United States remained vanishingly low in January and February 2026, with China shipping only lutetium to the United States in January and a small amount of yttrium in February. While China exported some rare earth magnets, which are partially covered by their export controls, to the United States, combined January and February 2026 exports were below levels in the same period in the prior two years.

Japan: China’s January 2026 restrictions on rare earth exports to Japan led to shipments of export-controlled compounds and metals to Japan plummeting in January and February. China’s shipments of rare earth magnets to Japan continued at around the same level as prior years, though magnets do not substitute for all of the end use applications for which compounds and metals are imported.

Exports to the World

Rare Earth Magnets: China’s combined January and February 2026 exports of partially covered rare earth magnets to the world were above levels in the prior two years, although exports to the United States were below historical levels in the first two months of the year.

Compounds and metals: China’s global exports of export-controlled compounds and metals fell sharply in January and February 2026, with exports to the United States remaining low and exports to Japan falling sharply.