S.Korea's rare earth imports from China surge in June

SEOUL, July 24 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's rare earth imports from China surged last month due to a fall in import prices, customs data showed Tuesday.

South Korea purchased a total of 126 tons of rare earth material from China in June, up 36.3 percent from a month earlier, according to the Korea Customs Service (KCS).

In terms of value, rare earth import from China edged down 0.4 percent on-month to 3.8 million U.S. dollars in June, indicating that falling import prices contributed mainly to the June surge in import volume.

Rare earth materials, including scandium and yttrium, are key components for modern-day technologies such as hybrid electric vehicles, liquid crystal display (LCD) and other high-tech products.

Rare earth imports from Japan declined 17.3 percent on-month to 57 tons last month, while import from Germany jumped 80.9 percent to 12 tons over the same period.

Meanwhile, imports of magnesium from China soared 73.3 percent on-month to 903 tons in June, but tungsten imports declined 24.8 percent to 36 tons. Cobalt imports from China expanded 39.2 percent to 436 tons over the cited period. Enditem