Recently, China’s rare earth export quota system was ruled by the World Trade Organization (WTO) to violate the trade rules and delay the two years of US, EU and Japan v. China’s rare earth case to end in China’s losing the case. This once again caused the industry’s rare earth quota system. Disposal disputes. According to the rules, after the WTO ruled that China has lost the case, the Chinese side can still continue to appeal. If it eventually loses the case, the abolition of rare earth quotas will only be a matter of time.
The author believes that the timing of canceling the rare earth quota system is ripe. Even without the WTO ruling, China should consider removing the rare earth export quota.
The rare earth export quota system began in 1998. The original intention was to protect the environment and standardize the export order. Three years later, China's accession to the WTO means that, in accordance with its commitments, the export (import) quotas for most products were cancelled within the prescribed time limit. As of 2014, only 22 commodities were still subject to the quota license management system. Rare earth is one of the 22 commodities and is the only non-ferrous metal resource. If quota management is cancelled, it means that non-ferrous metal resources will completely bid farewell to the "quota era."
In recent years, China’s exports of rare earths have faced the biggest drawback. On the one hand, quotas are used up, and the other is smuggling. This makes the role of the rare earth quota system limited, even in name only.
The starting point of the quota is to limit the number of exports and standardize the export order. However, in 2011, the use of rare earth quotas in China was only 61.6%. In 2012, it was further reduced to less than 50%. In the first 10 months of 2013, the quota was only 57.8%. Export quotas could not be completed at all. Naturally, it is not possible to limit the number of exports. . A company has worked hard to obtain an export quota of 100,000 tons. As a result, it only bought 50,000 tons. Does this quota have any significance?
The above export data comes from customs statistics, but it may not necessarily be true export data. Why are the statistics of rare earth exports in the customs statistics shrinking, which is a factor that causes the weak demand caused by the global economic downturn? Is the United States, Canada and other countries mining their own rare earth increased supply? Neither is the root cause of this problem is the rare earth smuggling, or smuggling in disguise under the name of export primary processed products. In recent years, the customs have successively identified the major cases of rare earth smuggling. The reason for the smuggling of rare earth lies in the chaos in the production field. Private owners illegally dig into mines without permission, and the integration effect of the large rare earth group is inconsistent. This points to the catastrophes of China's rare earth industry.
Quota management has limited effectiveness and many drawbacks. One of the most obvious drawbacks is the proliferation of sex. The quotas are trade controls. There are gray transactions and rent-seeking space for control. Many rare earth enterprises do not have export quotas. As long as they buy in the market, companies that have rare earth quotas can earn high income only by selling indicators. This scene is similar to the chaotic situation of the coke quotas and textile quotas of the year.
Another drawback is that "to give people a handle." Since the General Agreement on GATT (GATT, the predecessor of the WTO) in 1947, member states and parties have been working hard to reduce and eliminate quotas and free trade. The starting point of the Chinese rare earth quota is to protect the environment and resources, but this view has not been recognized by the WTO expert group. Under this circumstance, the Chinese side needs to accept the "rules of the game" if it continues to implement quota management, and this is when joining the WTO. Commitment to the contrary.
Rare earth is a strategic material and an “industrial bloodâ€. It involves national interests and needs to be managed in the entire industry chain. It can't just focus on quota management and cannot suffer from quota dependency. At present, the country is vigorously promoting the integration of rare earths. Baotou, Minmetals, Chinalco, Guangdong rare earth, Quzhou rare earth, Xiamen tungsten industry as the integration of the main, through the joint, merger, reorganization, etc., to improve the degree of industrial concentration. On the whole, the integration of rare earth industries has a certain effect, and the appearance of these major rare earth groups is looming. However, the industrial chain needs to be further sorted out to achieve substantial integration. The elimination of quota management is also an indispensable factor in the integration of rare earth industries.
Bigger and stronger China's rare earth industry is becoming bigger, and resource integration is only the first step. The bigger challenge is the transformation of the industrial model. It changes from exporting resources, exporting primary processed products to exporting deep-processed products, and speeding up application development and industrial upgrading. It is possible to leave high value-added industries in the country. This is the fundamental way out for China's rare earth industry.
Wood Frame Fastening Tool ,Wood Fasteners,Wood Frame Nail,Wood Screw Fastener
Yibin Heheng Technology Co.,Ltd , https://www.actuated.nl