China's rare earths giant continues production halt

BEIJING - China's largest rare earths producer on Tuesday announced that it will continue to halt some of its production for a third month to help stabilize tumbling prices.

The Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Rare-earth (Group) Hi-tech Co Ltd will maintain its suspension of rare earth roasting and smelting separation operations, which began on Oct 23, for another month, the company said in a statement filed to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

"The rare earths market recovered a bit in the past two months but did not improve fundamentally," the statement said.

The burst of a speculative bubble in China's rare earths industry and the softening economy has led to plunges in prices of rare earths, a group of 17 metals used in products ranging from smartphones to hybrid cars, since last year.

The price of praseodymium-neodymium oxide, primarily used to make ceramics and magnetic materials, has slid to around 300,000 yuan ($47,695) to 320,000 yuan per ton, down from 1.4 million yuan per ton at the highest point last year.

Baotou Steel saw its third quarter net profits dive 89.6 percent year-on-year to 120 million yuan due to declines in prices and sales.

The company's Shanghai-listed shares lost 0.69 percent to close at 37.18 yuan during the morning session on Tuesday.