Rare Earth Elements Industry

The global rare earth elements market size is estimated to reach USD 6.28 billion by 2030, registering to grow at a CAGR of 8.6% from 2025 to 2030 according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The growing use of permanent magnets in the production of batteries for electric vehicles is expected to propel the demand for rare earth elements including neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, gadolinium, and terbium over the forecast period. Neodymium and praseodymium based rare earth permanent magnets are majorly used in the manufacturing of batteries.

The growing demand for electric vehicles coupled with the government initiatives on reducing the CO2 emissions is expected to boost the demand for permanent magnets. In March 2019, the Chinese government reduced subsidies for electric vehicles in order to promote innovation amongst local manufacturers on account of declining costs. The incentives for electric cars with less than 400 km range decreased from 50,000 yuan to 25,000 yuan, while the incentives for vehicles ranging less than 250 km have been eliminated.

According to USGS, China holds the largest amount of reserves with 44 million tons and Malaysia holds the least amount of reserves with 30 thousand tons. It also stated that the U.S. has USD 6.2 trillion worth of mineral reserves. However, the stringent regulatory policies towards mining in the U.S. has forced the companies to import the raw materials from China. Hence, the production of raw material has been a major challenge for the U.S companies.

The increasing prices of rare earth elements and high investments to open new mines have given rise to recycling of the product. Japan is one of the major producer of recycled rare earth elements. In 2010, Hitachi developed a new technology for recycling rare-earth magnets from air conditioners and hard disk drives. It can separate recycle magnets approximately eight times more efficiently than conventional methods. In 2012, The Honda Corporation opened the first rare earth recycling plant. The company utilized used automotive parts containing metals to produce rare earth elements.

The key players in the rare earth elements market are involved in acquisitions, expansions, and long term binding agreements with their customers. In Nov 2017, Hitachi Metals Ltd acquired Santoku Corporation, a Japanese manufacturer of alloys. This strategy was aimed at accelerating the production of neodymium magnet alloys in order to achieve sustainable growth in the global market.

Gather more insights about the market drivers, restrains and growth of the Global Rare Earth Elements market

Rare Earth Elements Market Segments Highlights:

  • Neodymium is used in the production of permanent magnets and accounted for the highest revenue share of 30.3% in 2024. Neodymium was the leading segment and is anticipated to witness a CAGR of 8.1% over the forecast period.
  • Magnets was the largest application segment in 2024 and accounted for about 41.0% of the global revenue share.
  • Asia Pacific was the dominant region, with a revenue share of over 86% in 2024.

Rare Earth Elements Market Report Segmentation

Grand View Research has segmented the global rare earth elements market based on product, application and region:

Rare Earth Elements Product Outlook (Volume, Tons; Revenue, USD Million; 2018 - 2030)

  • Cerium
  • Dysprosium
  • Erbium
  • Europium
  • Gadolinium
  • Holmium
  • Lanthanum
  • Lutetium
  • Neodymium
  • Praseodymium
  • Promethium
  • Samarium
  • Scandium
  • Terbium
  • Thulium
  • Ytterbium
  • Yttrium

Rare Earth Elements Application Outlook (Volume, Tons; Revenue, USD Million; 2018 - 2030)

  • Magnets
  • Catalysts
  • Metallurgy
  • Polishing
  • Glass
  • Phosphors
  • Ceramics
  • Others

Rare Earth Elements Regional Outlook (Volume, Tons; Revenue, USD Million; 2018 - 2030)

  • North America
    • US
  • Europe
    • Germany
    • UK
    • France
  • Asia Pacific
    • China
    • Japan
    • India
  • Central & South America
  • Middle East & Africa

Key Rare Earth Elements Company Insights

  • Alkane Resources Ltd
  • Arafura Resources Ltd
  • Avalon Advanced Materials Inc.
  • China Northern Rare Earth (Group) High-Tech Co., Ltd.
  • Greenland Minerals Ltd
  • Hitachi Metals Ltd.
  • Iluka Resources Limited
  • Indian Rare Earth Limited
  • Lynas Corporation Ltd
  • Northern Minerals Ltd
  • Rare Element Resources Ltd.
  • Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.
  • Ucore Rare Metals Inc.

Order a free sample PDF of the Rare Earth Elements Market Intelligence Study, published by Grand View Research.