SINGAPORE, July 20 (Reuters) – China’s exports of strategically important, controlled rare earths and minerals to Japan were tiny again in June, extending the raw material fallout of a diplomatic spat between the two nations.
China sent no gallium, dysprosium, terbium or yttrium to Japan last month, Chinese customs data released on Monday showed. Exports have been tightly throttled for several months.
Japan has the world’s biggest rare earth magnet sector outside of China but, like other countries, is reliant on China for its sourcing of some rare earth inputs.
Exports of controlled metals plunged after comments made by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Taiwan in November caused a diplomatic rift.
Beijing introduced export controls on types of heavy rare earths and the magnets that contain them in April 2025. It publicly tightened controls on exports to Japan in January, and then twice again the following month, targeting major conglomerates.
Companies in the island nation have sounded the alarm over access to critical minerals, warning it is beginning to affect the broader Japanese economy.
China’s export controls allow it to leverage its dominant position in critical mineral supply chains and have become one of Beijing’s most powerful diplomatic levers, also discussed in recent negotiations with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Exports of the chip and magnet-making metal gallium to Japan fell back to zero in June, after consumers there got some respite with a large shipment in May.
Export control-related shortages of yttrium – a rare earth used to protect turbine blades in aircraft engines or power plants from extreme heat – have wracked the market.
China exported no yttrium to Japan in June. Meanwhile, the U.S., a major destination for Chinese exports of the rare earth before the restrictions came into effect, had none sent there for the second month running.
Elsewhere, China’s overall exports of rare earth magnets remained strong in June. It exported some 5,649 metric tons of magnets in June, up from 4,730 tons a month earlier.
(Reporting by Solomon Cefai; Editing by Joe Bavier)
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