China restricts gallium and germanium exports – Kommersant

Today, July 3, Ministry of Commerce of China announced on the introduction of restrictions on the export of gallium and germanium – metals important for the production of semiconductors and other high-tech products. China also restricts the export of various compounds with them. The restriction will take effect from August 1. Now companies that want to continue exporting metals will have to apply to the Ministry of Commerce, as well as provide information about who they themselves will sell them to.

Experts believe this is China’s response to US-imposed restrictions on the import of various modern technologies into the country. Previously already reportedthat China plans to impose an embargo on the supply of rare earth metals to Western countries. “This could have a devastating effect – gallium and germanium are absolutely essential for high-tech industries,” Anthony Lipmann, director of British trader Lipmann Walton & Co, commented on today’s decision. According to the British research center Critical Minerals Intelligence Centre, China accounts for 94% of the world’s production of gallium.

However, according to some experts, the Chinese demarche can only stimulate the production of these metals in other regions. By themselves, gallium and germanium cannot be called rare, they are by-products of processing other types of raw materials, including coal and bauxite. At the same time, production in China allows them to maintain low prices. According to Christopher Ecclestone, head of mining research firm Hallgarten, this could eventually lead to the production of these metals in the West. “In the short term, prices will rise, but then China will lose market dominance, as happened earlier with antimony, tungsten and rare earth metals,” he said.

Yana Rozhdestvenskaya