稀土价格的波动会影响永久磁铁行业吗?

反对新能源快速发展的背景, 电动汽车和风力发电, the application of permanent magnets is becoming more and more extensive, especially high-performance NdFeB permanent magnets, and the importance of its core material, rare earth elements, has also increased. But at the same time, the fluctuation of rare earth prices has also frequently attracted market attention. So, will the fluctuation of rare earth prices have an impact on the permanent magnet industry? This article will explore this issue from multiple angles.

The relationship between rare earths and permanent magnets

Rare earth elements such as neodymium (Nd), dysprosium (Dy), and terbium (Tb) are key raw materials for high-performance permanent magnets, especially in the manufacturing process of permanent magnets for high-temperature or high-magnetic energy products. These rare earth materials play an irreplaceable role. NdFeB permanent magnets are currently the best commercial permanent magnet materials, widely used in motors, 风力发电, hybrid vehicles, consumer electronics and other fields.

Therefore, changes in rare earth prices will naturally have a certain impact on the permanent magnet production process, but the degree of impact is often affected by multiple factors, and cannot be simply attributed to absolute judgments such as “price rises, the industry is impacted” or “price drops, the industry is good”.

Actual performance of rare earth price fluctuations

In recent years, rare earth prices have fluctuated greatly, which is affected by supply and demand, as well as policy regulation, geopolitics and other factors. The following is the price changes of the three main rare earth elements from 2021 to 2024 (unit: yuan/kg):

As can be seen from the above table, although rare earth prices fluctuate, they generally fluctuate within a range, showing a typical cyclical “rise-retracement”. This trend shows that rare earth prices are not continuously soaring, and it also means that permanent magnet manufacturers have the opportunity to reduce the adverse effects of fluctuations through raw material inventory management and process optimization.

Coping strategies of the permanent magnet industry

In the face of unstable raw material prices, many permanent magnet manufacturers have gradually shown stronger coping capabilities. For example:

1. Adopt resource substitution or rare earth saving technology: reduce the use of high-priced rare earths such as dysprosium and terbium through microalloy design and optimized sintering process;
2. Establish long-term supply cooperation relationship: such as JLMAG permanent magnet manufacturer, by signing a strategic agreement with upstream rare earth suppliers to lock in part of the procurement cost;
3. Increase product added value: Transform to high-performance magnets or system-level applications to reduce the impact of single raw material cost fluctuations on profits.

These strategies show that although rare earth price fluctuations have a certain impact on the permanent magnet industry, enterprises can effectively alleviate or even partially eliminate this impact through technological innovation and supply chain optimization.

Market prospects and long-term trends

In the long run, the permanent magnet industry still has broad development prospects, especially in the fields of new energy vehicles, robots, rail transit, intelligent manufacturing and other fields. The continued growth will continue to drive the demand for magnetic materials.

Against this background, industry representative companies such as JLMAG permanent magnet manufacturers continue to increase their R&D investment to promote the mass production of low-heavy rare earth content and high-performance permanent magnets, thereby further enhancing the industry’s ability to resist risks.

In addition, strengthening rare earth recycling technology will alleviate the contradiction between supply and demand of rare earth raw materials to a certain extent and further stabilize price fluctuations.

In summary, the fluctuation of rare earth prices will indeed bring certain cost pressures to the permanent magnet manufacturing industry, especially in the stage of short-term sharp price increases. However, the depth of the impact should be comprehensively judged in combination with factors such as the company’s own technical level, supply chain stability and market structure. Companies like JLMAG permanent magnet manufacturers with stable supply capabilities and technological innovation capabilities can often keep their footsteps in price fluctuations, and even take advantage of the situation to optimize product structure and achieve higher quality development.

Therefore, although the fluctuation of rare earth prices is a variable that cannot be ignored, for the permanent magnet industry, it is both a challenge and an opportunity to promote industrial upgrading.