The sharp jump in China’s imports of rare earth ore from the United States in July was probably the final customs accounting of shipments from U.S. supplier MP Materials.

Data on Wednesday from the General Administration of Customs showed imports of rare earths ore from the U.S. surged to 4,719 metric tons in July after falling to zero in June, sparking market speculation over the source of the shipments.

MP Materials, which owns the only U.S. rare earth mine has long sent ore to China for its minority shareholder Shenghe Resources to process.

But MP said in April that it had stopped shipping the critical minerals to China as the U.S. and China clashed over import tariffs before ceasing them altogether in July after announcing the U.S. Department of Defence had invested in the company to effectively become the biggest shareholder.

MP told Reuters on Thursday that its final exports were sent in the second quarter and “shipments over water, warehousing and other factors can contribute to reporting delays.”

The jump coincided with a recovery in China’s exports of rare earth magnets, key to electric vehicles, wind turbines and defence sectors.

China’s rare earth magnet exports to the U.S. jumped by 75.5% from the month before to 619 tons, 4.8% higher than the same month in 2024, the customs data showed.
Source: Reuters