China Rare Earth Export Controls Tracker 2026
MOFCOM rare earth and strategic metal export-control timeline 2023–2026: announcement numbers, effective dates, affected elements, and current status.
Active Control Regimes
Each card represents a distinct regulatory action. Status reflects the current state of each control regime.
Announcement Timeline
All published Chinese export-control announcements affecting rare earths, strategic metals, and semiconductor materials — newest first.
MOFCOM designates 15 Japanese companies as "unreliable entities," prohibiting export of controlled items (including all dual-use minerals). Retaliation for Japan's January 2026 prohibition order.
China prohibits dual-use exports to Japan, citing Japan's restrictions on semiconductor equipment to China. First country-wide prohibition order since the US ban in Dec 2024.
MOFCOM suspends all six October 2025 announcements plus the Ga/Ge/Sb US-specific ban (Art. 2, No. 46/2024). Suspension runs until 28 November 2026. Underlying licence requirements remain.
Six simultaneous announcements (Nos. 55–58, 61, 62) suspend pending licence applications, halt new applications for US-destined shipments, add end-user verification, and expand controlled item scope. Article 2 of No. 46/2024 (Ga/Ge/Sb US ban) reactivated. Subsequently suspended by Nos. 70 and 72 of 2025.
Export licences required for samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium, and yttrium — covering metals, alloys, oxides, compounds, and permanent magnet materials. Targets the materials most critical for NdFeB magnets and defence.
All five metals require export licences. Tellurium controls are notable as Te is critical for CdTe thin-film solar (~60% of demand) and is a byproduct of copper refining with inelastic supply.
Article 1 prohibits Ga/Ge/Sb exports to any US military end-user; Article 2 imposes a blanket ban on all Ga/Ge/Sb exports to the US. Art. 1 remains active; Art. 2 was suspended in Nov 2025 until Nov 2026.
State Council Order No. 785 establishes a comprehensive framework for rare earth mining, smelting, separation, and circulation. Codifies production quotas, traceability, and strategic reserve management.
Export controls imposed on antimony and related items, effective 15 September 2024. Sb price rose from ~$12,000/t to >$38,000/t within six months of announcement.
Regulation (EU) 2024/1252 sets benchmarks for domestic extraction (10%), processing (40%), and recycling (25%) of critical raw materials including rare earths, gallium, and germanium by 2030.
Export licence requirements for gallium and germanium products, effective 1 August 2023. First targeted critical-mineral export controls; widely interpreted as a response to US semiconductor restrictions.