Whats up with Neodymium Magnets?
 

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

One word: China.

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

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

China
 

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

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

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.

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...

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.:D

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.