October 30th (Argus) - Sojitz, a Japanese trading company, announced on October 30th that it has begun importing heavy rare earths from Australia's Lynas Corporation to Japan.
This is the first time that Japan has imported heavy rare earths from Lynas Corporation. It will continue to diversify Japan's rare earth supply chain, stabilize the supply of rare earth raw materials, and reduce its reliance on Chinese raw materials.
After producing dysprosium and terbium oxides in May and June this year, Lynas began producing samarium in April 2026. The company stated that in the next two years, it will expand the product range of this factory, including gadolinium, dysprosium, terbium, yttrium, and lutetium, among other medium and heavy rare earth elements.
In 2011, Sojitz signed a sole distribution agreement for light rare earth products with Lynas. Since then, it has provided multiple loans and equity investments to Lynas. Sojitz and the energy agency Jogmec signed a purchase agreement worth 200 million Australian dollars (132 million US dollars) with Lynas in 2023 to ensure the purchase of 65% of Lynas' dysprosium and terbium production, which are widely used in the production of neodymium permanent magnets and other industries.
