Doha: Germany has announced a decline in its imports of rare earth minerals from China to 65.5% last year.
According to Qatar News Agency, the German Statistical Office stated in a report on Wednesday that the country relies heavily on China for rare earth minerals, importing 3,400 tons, equivalent to 65.5% of its valuable raw materials, in 2024.
It added that although this percentage decreased from 69.1% of the rare earth minerals that Germany imported from China in 2023, some elements which are used in the manufacture of permanent magnets in electric motors, for example, were almost entirely imported from China.
The office explained in its report that European Union countries’ rare earth metal imports came from China at 46 percent, followed by Russia at 28.4 percent and Malaysia at 19.9 percent.
For the German market, Austria was the second-largest supplier of rare earth metals in 2024, providing 23.2 percent of imports, followed by Estonia at 5.6 percent.
China is one of the world’s major suppliers of rare earth metals.