Increase the tax on rare earth resources or increase it again

Faced with the defeat of the rare earth WTO lawsuit, the status of some of the export tariffs on rare earth products will be abolished, and the state’s efforts to regulate and integrate rare earths will be tightened again. Relevant departments are embarking on brewing to increase the resource tax of rare earth resources again, and overweight the means of regulating and controlling the rare earth industry.

“The State Administration of Taxation, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Finance and other ministries are all discussing and brewing, and it is estimated that they will be introduced in the second half of the year.” According to the current situation, according to the current situation, it may be that the rare earth resources tax will be substantially raised on the basis of the current standards, and the specific proportion is still In the discussion.

Raising the resources tax on rare earths is seen by many in the industry as an important means of regulating and controlling the rare earth industry. The authoritative sources frankly stated to reporters that raising the tax rate of rare earth resources, raising the market price of rare earths from the source, reflecting the scarcity of resources and the environmental costs of exploitation, and changing the relationship between supply and demand by increasing prices, effectively reducing smuggling and other The country's purchase of hoarding rare earths will also help reduce the negative effect of the WTO's loss on the management of rare earths in China.

In fact, in order to change the status of rare earths as a large-scale sale of Chinese cabbage, China has adopted a number of policy measures. In 2007, China began to implement directive planning for rare earth production, and reduced export quotas year by year to limit the export of rare earths. Since 2011, it has raised the export tariffs on individual rare earth products. In order to better protect resources, it has increased rare earths for the first time in April 2011. Resource tax. The reporter learned that in 2011, the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation issued a notice for the first time, and decided to adjust the standard of rare earth mineral resources tax amount from April 1 of that year, and increase the rate by more than 10 times. At that time, the adjusted standard for rare earth resource tax was as follows: Light rare earth included cesium ore and monazite, RMB 60/t; medium and heavy rare earth included yttrium ore and ionic rare earth, RMB 30/t.

"Once the resources tax has risen sharply again, the cost of the company will be even higher," said a rare earth industry veteran. On the other hand, the substantial increase in resource tax revenues indicates that the government is taking further measures to strictly control rare earth resources. Under such circumstances, the price of rare earths may increase.

Statistics show that after continuous decline in the fourth quarter of 2013, the price of rare earths has approached the bottom level in mid-2013. Taking Baotou, a rare earth production area, as an example, there are 34 rare earth enterprises above designated size in the city. The operating rate from January to March was 91.2%. The sales revenue was 1.81 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 25.3%; the profit was only 210 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease. 4.7%, from the export situation, the rare earth industry completed export delivery value of 31 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 47.2%. This reporter learned that the rare earth group with mining rights will benefit preferentially, including Baotou Steel Rare Earth, Xiamen Tungsten Industry, Minmetals Rare Earth, Guangyu Nonferrous Metals, Chinalco and Quzhou Rare Earth.

It is noteworthy that due to the global economic downturn coupled with the decrease in China's demand for rare earths, rare earth prices have plummeted, while at the same time reducing the pressure for the opening of new mining sites abroad. According to foreign media reports, although the US Molybdenum Company once again opened an old mine in Mountain Pass, California, Malaysia has been preparing to buy rare earths from Australia since a year ago, and geologists have also discovered hundreds of new deposits in the world in the past few years. However, the enthusiasm for the construction of new mining sites outside China has significantly weakened.

All indications indicate that the scarcity of rare earths through taxation is imminent. The European Economic Research Center stated that China will maintain its monopoly position in the heavy rare earth field until 2020. At present, about 90% of the world's rare earth products still come from China. “The demand for rare earths in China may be 'rebounding' overseas, especially after the cancellation of tariffs, and only through internal supervision to protect precious rare earth resources.” Industry analysts pointed out. According to statistics, China’s reserves of rare earths are only 27 million tons, and the proportion of total reserves in the world has dropped from the previous 70% to the current 30%. According to the current production speed, China's rare earth reserves can only be maintained for 15 to 20 years and will most likely need to be imported in the future.