Whats up with Neodymium Magnets?

[cgarr]

We use these rare earth magnets in our processing and since last October the price has jumped 5 times! Whats up with that?

[A930Rocket]

One word: China.

[imcarthur]

Agreed. In consumer electronics, the feeling is that China is raising the price of all rare earths & choking the supply to give Chinese manufacturers a serious advantage over all other customers. You can expect this to continue.

Ian

[Shaun @ Tru6]

China. story on NPR last year about China and rare earth metals.

[monoflo]

Yep china has grabbed the market by the cojones

We make some magdrive products and most likely will leave that market given the huge increase in prices

just a reminder to us all that china is no free market

MFLO

[sc_rufctr]

Try getting some plain old tool steel... Again ridiculously expensive.

[nostatic]

My favorite bass speaker manufacturer (Bergantino) discontinued all of his neo-loaded cabinets. Luckily I have a pair of them. He's got a new line of ceramic loaded cabs coming out in a few weeks, but his response wasn't to raise prices, just get the hell out.

[red-beard]

China is raising the price enough to generate a lot of revenue, but not enough for alternative sources to come on line, like reclamation from sea water.

Hmmm. Maybe if the reclamation process also produced desal water...

[jwasbury]

Originally Posted by nostatic

My favorite bass speaker manufacturer (Bergantino) discontinued all of his neo-loaded cabinets. Luckily I have a pair of them. He's got a new line of ceramic loaded cabs coming out in a few weeks, but his response wasn't to raise prices, just get the hell out.

I bought the last neo loaded Berg AE210 that was in inventory at Rudy's Music here in NYC a few weeks ago. It was to match a second hand AE210 I purchased off craiglist a week earlier.

[jyl]

Rare earth prices won't stay this high, though they won't drop to what they had been.

Mines outside of China are opening or re-opening. It takes time, though.

Look up stock ticker RARE and do some reading.

Also, products will be re-designed to use less rare earths or none, when feasible. New supply will run into falling demand.