S Korea's imports of rare earth materials contract in Nov.

South Korea's imports of rare earth materials contracted for three straight months in November due to smaller inflow of commodities imported from China, the customs office said Tuesday.

Imports of rare earth materials, including scandium and yttrium, reached a total of 139 tons in November, down 47.5 percent from the previous month, according to a report by the Korea Customs Service. The inbound shipments shrank 62.2 percent from a year earlier.

The rare earth imports diminished for the third consecutive month in November after peaking at 418 tons in September, according to the report.

The November contraction was mainly attributable to a decrease in imports from China. South Korea's imports of rare earth materials that are used in hybrid, electric vehicles, liquid crystal displays and other high-tech products mostly came from China, which shipped 93 tons to the country last month. It was followed by France with 38 tons and Germany with 7 tons.

The unit price of rare earth materials imported from China plunged 56.2 percent in November from a month earlier, dragging down last month's import prices that posted a 23 percent on-month drop. Import price of Germany fell 10.6 percent on-month last month, but that of France was up 19.5 percent over the same period.

Imports of other rare metals also diminished last month on an on-month basis, with those of lithium, magnesium, tungsten shrinking 32.7 percent, 22.7 percent, 4.8 percent respectively.

In contrast, imports of molybdenum, cobalt, titanium, chrome, indium and manganese expanded by 104.7 percent, 37.4 percent, 33.6 percent, 26.4 percent, 17.1 percent, 13.7 percent each over the cited period.

Source: Xinhua