Thanks to its advantages in rare earth resources and the global industrial transfer, China has already become the main producer of neodymium-iron-boron magnetic materials worldwide.
The global neodymium-iron-boron magnetic materials industry has undergone major adjustments in its industrial pattern: In the 1980s and 1990s, when neodymium-iron-boron magnetic materials were first successfully mass-produced, the global production capacity was concentrated in Japan, Europe, and the United States. In particular, Japan and the United States mastered the production technologies of high-performance neodymium-iron-boron magnetic materials and were ahead of the rest of the world.
China has significant advantages in rare earth resources: Its reserves rank first in the world. According to the data from the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the world's rare earth basic reserves are 120 million tons. In terms of reserve rankings, they are China, Brazil, Russia, India, and Australia in sequence. Among them, China accounts for 37%. Moreover, China's production of rare earth products accounts for more than 90%. It has the ability to supply large quantities of different types of rare earth products in batches and is known as the "Kingdom of Rare Earths". Such abundant rare earth resources have laid a solid foundation in terms of raw material resources for the development of the downstream rare earth permanent magnetic materials industry.
Up to now in the development of the industry, there are only four major sintered neodymium-iron-boron enterprises left among overseas developed markets: Germany's VAC, Japan's Hitachi Metals, TDK, and Shin-Etsu Chemical. Entering the 21st century, on the one hand, China has witnessed rapid development in basic industries. More importantly, on the other hand, relying on its advantages in rare earth resources and relatively low labor and other costs, it has continuously attracted orders for medium and low-end magnetic materials into China. Later, as China regulated the rare earth industry, cracked down on "illegal rare earths" and set quotas, the prices of rare earths rose sharply in 2010 - 2011. Overseas enterprises faced problems such as high raw material costs and raw material supply. As a result, the industrial pattern underwent major adjustments, and some orders for high-end magnetic materials gradually gathered in China.
