China rare earth quotas

2011年稀土出口企业名单及第一批配额安排表
序号	公司名称	配额数量（吨）
1	中国中钢集团公司	584
2	五矿有色金属股份有限公司	747
3	中国有色金属进出口江苏公司	493
4	广东广晟有色金属进出口有限公司	431
5	常熟市盛昌稀土冶炼厂	196
6	江苏卓群纳米稀土股份有限公司	251
7	江西金世纪新材料股份有限公司	432
8	内蒙古和发稀土科技开发股份有限公司	750
9	江西南方稀土高技术股份有限公司	401
10	赣州晨光稀土新材料股份有限公司	374
11	赣州虔东稀土集团股份有限公司	329
12	有研稀土新材料股份有限公司	333
13	益阳鸿源稀土有限责任公司	594
14	包头华美稀土高科有限公司	954
15	内蒙古包钢稀土（集团）高科技股份有限公司	740
16	甘肃稀土新材料股份有限公司	689
17	乐山盛和稀土科技有限公司	750
18	阜宁稀土实业有限公司	327
19	山东鹏宇实业股份有限公司	709
20	赣县红金稀土有限公司	102
21	徐州金石彭源稀土材料厂	410
22	广东珠江稀土有限公司	166
23	江阴加华新材料资源有限公司	481
24	溧阳罗地亚稀土新材料有限公司	324
25	宜兴新威利成稀土有限公司	440
26	包头天骄清美稀土抛光粉有限公司	251
27	包头罗地亚稀土有限公司	867
28	呼和浩特融信新金属冶炼有限公司	296
29	包头华信冶炼有限公司	93
30	包头三德电池材料有限公司	127
31	淄博加华新材料资源有限公司	805
应得配额＝此次下达配额量×〔0.85×（A1+A2）＋0.15×A3〕
A1＝（各企业近三年出口数量÷全国出口总量）×0.9权重
A2＝（各企业近三年出口金额÷全国出口金额）×0.1权重
A3＝生产企业2009年出口供货量÷各生产企业出口供货总量

The table lists the new export quotas in tons. Below the table are the formulas. One is based on the past three years exports in quantity, another past three years monetary value, and the third 2009 exports.

Here's a link to the Google translation of the above.

Stocks didn't always react based on the news. Baosteel Baotuo Rare Earth (600111.SS) was up less than 2% on the news (number 15 on the list, with possible additional subsidiaries listed), while China Rare Earth (0769.HK) （subsidiary is listed at 25), gained 16%. Shares of rare earth miners listed in Australia also bounced on the news. MCP and REMX have solid gains in early U.S. trading following the news.

In other news...China likely to set up rare earth trade body

China is considering establishing an industry association and a government unit for the rare earths industry to gain more control over the precious metals, senior officials said Tuesday.

The rare earths industry association is likely to be launched in May and will assist companies in exports and international cooperation, Wang Caifeng, a former official of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), who is setting up the group, said at a forum.

"We will be on the frontlines leading price talks with foreign buyers. Our role will be similar to that of the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA)," she said.

The article goes on to discuss the development of taxes, quotas and consolidation in the industry:

Since 2006, the country has imposed temporary taxes on rare earths exports and set limits on quotas. In 2010, China reduced export quotas to 60 percent, causing alarm among importing countries such as Japan.

The Ministry of Finance said on its website last week that China will raise the export taxes for some rare earth minerals to 25 percent in 2011.

The country is speeding up the pace of mergers and acquisitions in the rare earths sector and is encouraging consolidation among State-owned enterprises. China plans to cut the number of rare earths companies from the current 90 to 20 by 2015.

Rare earth stocks sink

Rare earth stocks enjoyed a fantastic run during September and October, but they've been hit hard in the past week. Here's an update of the chart comparing Molycorp, China Rare Earth, and Baotou. The chart starts from the IPO date of Molycorp.

Molycorp (MCP) vs. China Rare Earth (0769) vs. Baotou (600111)

Update on the returns for New York, Hong Kong, and Shanghai listed rare earth producers.

Buffett buying China Rare Earth?

It makes some sense since he's invested in a Chinese car company that needs rare earth elements, but at this point I think it's more rumor than anything. The impetus for this rumor was the halting of China Rare Earth (0769.HK) for a share placement.

Rare hopes for a Buffett bonanza

Rumors that US billionaire Warren Buffett will take part in a share placement by China Rare Earth (0769) has raised hopes the firm may be the next to get the "Midas touch" after PetroChina (0857) and BYD (1211).
The rare earth and refractory products maker is selling 100 million new shares to raise HK$395 million, Reuters reported.

At HK$3.95 each, the offer is a 10 percent discount to the stock's last closing price of HK$4.39 on Wednesday.

An over-allotment issue of 20 million shares could boost the total amount HK$474 million. Analysts estimate CRE's share price to soar after it resumes trading because of the "Buffett effect."

China back from vacation, rare earths run

I'm looking at gold mining stocks to compare A-shares to H-shares, as China returns from vacation today. Lingbao Gold (3330) has been on a tear, up 30% in the past week including today's move, but it appears the A-shares aren't doing any catching up today, only pacing Lingbao.

I included China Rare Earth (0769) because that stock continues to catch a bid on monster volume. The relative performance versus Molycorp (MCP) is looking much better now. Since Yahoo has difficulty with the time difference, I had to create a chart comparing the prices. China Rare Earth includes today's intraday gains as of around noon in Hong Kong. This will be an interesting relationship going forward.

China Rare Earth and Lingbao Gold are both up more than 30% this week, with only a few hours left in trading. China Rare Earth has spiked before and I've seen shorter spikes occur before, only to watch them almost completely fade away in the ensuing days and weeks. Whether this rally is connected to the politics of the region (with China supposedly slowing rare earth exports to Japan during the brouhaha over the detained sea captain) or the expectation of currency devaluation (the similar move in Lingbao suggests the latter) could mean the move is more permanent, but I still expect a healthy and sizable pullback.

Rare earths running

The story about China cutting off rare earth exports to Japan last week, which they quickly denied was the case, has lit a fire under rare earth elements. The chart above compares the two month returns for China Rare Earth (0769.HK), which I own, against MolyCorp (MCP), which I didn't buy just after the IPO at the end of July because I figured I could pick shares up later...

China Rare Earth is up another 11% in Hong Kong today (this gain is not included in the chart above) and it has been rising all day. That suggests MCP could see another big pop in U.S. trading later today.

谢国忠喜欢黄金和能源股票

买房不如买黄金以及能源股

我的理财建议---我觉得现在我对能源股票、黄金我觉得比较看好。我觉得今后十年里面都是通胀型的，全世界都是通胀型的，所以这两个领域会有一定的保障，保值比较好，而且保值当中会有一定的上升空间。如果房子已经涨了三倍到四倍了，黄金的价格涨了一倍，那相对来说那黄金更有价值了。房地产是很多要自己住，而且房地产不像股票黄金，它交易也很不容易。如果房子你租出去的租金，我听到很多人都在说，我租出去的房子才这么一点钱，过了两年收回来的时候内装修又要重新装一遍，这个钱还不够，因为住户把地板什么都搞坏了，所以这个就是没有回报的。

有很多很多可能性是。 这三个我看看，也买了中国稀土。
蒙古能源 0276.HK
灵宝黄金 3330.HK
中国稀土 0769.HK

China Rare Earth takes off

China Rare Earth (0769.HK)popped almost 40% today. Volume was almost 280 million compared to the usual 10 million per day. Thus far the only explanation I can find is China to tax more on two minerals

China has begun to restrict the mining and production of refractory clay and fluorite over concerns about reserve decrease and environmental pollution, according to a notice posted on the central government's website Sunday.

The government would implement comprehensive measures, which involve taxation, production planning management, industry entry standards and export policies, for the restriction, says the notice posted on www.gov.cn.

Land and resources authorities would enhance efforts to address problems in refractory clay and fluorite mining, and would not accept applications for new prospecting and mining projects starting from Jan 2.

The central government ordered authorities to promote industrial restructuring, close down backward production facilities, and implement strict industry entry regulations to avoid blind investments.

The notice says the industry entry standards for refractory clay and fluorite enterprises would be published on March 1 this year with immediate effect.
The notice also calls for intensified customs efforts to crack down on smuggling and supervision on refuse ore treatment.

The government plans to raise the rate of resource tax on the two minerals.

Nice down move today, but will it reverse again?

I haven't had time to do a post on my Marketocracy portfolio performance last month, but I did add some inverse ETFs to a couple portfolios today. The Best of Funds was a bad performer since March because its been defensive most of the way, but it has outperformed over the past two weeks.

Although I recently added a small holding in China Rare Earth and had previously made a small purchase of CBM Asia Development (TCF.V), a coalbed methane exploration company with operations in Indonesia, my main positions are 20+ Year Treasury (TLT) and, for the moment, Double Short Oil (DTO).

I have some puts on Starbucks (SBUX) which I bought way too early. Going forward, I'll make use of puts, currency futures, and inverse ETFs.

I've been burned several times by market reversals, however, and I may quickly reverse all my bearish positions if the market moves higher with conviction.

First Foray into Hong Kong

I picked up some shares in China Rare Earth Holdings(0769.HK).
中國稀土控股有限公司
INTERIM RESULTS ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 30 JUNE 2009

Profit for the six months ended June 30 was HK$0.0148 versus HK$0.1568 a year ago.

Net cash was HK$860 million versus HK$355 million in current liabilities and HK$296 million in non-current liabilities.

Company reports HK$2.5 billion in equity versus HK$2.65 billion in market capitalization.

The stock recently rallied when a spurt in global markets coincided with China's intention to restrict rare earth exports. The limits actually hurt the firm, however, since it will not be able to sell to the highest bidder.