Asia
Market Chatter: China's Critical Mineral Exports to Japan Remain Low in May
China's exports of several critical minerals to Japan remained low in May, following Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's comments on Taiwan late last year that angered Beijing, Bloomberg News reported Saturday.In November 2025, Takaichi said that Japan could respond with its own self-defence force in case of a Chinese attack on Taiwan. Since then, Beijing has retaliated via measures including military deployments, restrictions on rare earth exports and Chinese tourism to Japan, concert cancellations, and even the recall of its loaned pandas, according to several BBC reports.Following the diplomatic spat, shipments of key tungsten products and the rare-earth elements dysprosium and terbium dropped to zero, while exports of other rare-earth categories remained unusually low. Beijing tightened controls on dual-use export, items with both civilian and military applications, to Japan earlier in 2026, Bloomberg noted.To tackle the issue, Japanese firms such as Mitsubishi Materials Corp. (TYO:5711) have increasingly turned to alternative suppliers. Japan recently joined a G7 initiative that aims to lower dependency on any single country for rare earths to no more than 60%, amid China's continued pullback on critical mineral exports, it said.Shares of Mitsubishi Materials Corp. added over 2% in Monday morning trade.(Market Chatter news is derived from conversations with market professionals globally. This information is believed to be from reliable sources but may include rumor and speculation. Accuracy is not guaranteed.)
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