On December 28, China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) announced the country's preliminary rare earth export quota for 2011, with a total of 31 domestic companies being granted approval as exporters of rare earth. Accordingly, China's preliminary aggregate rare earth export quota for 2011 totals 14,446 mt, down 11.4 percent compared to 16,304 mt for 2010.
China's 2011 rare earth export quota figure has been calculated on the basis of Chinese domestic companies' actual export volumes of rare earth from January 2008 to October 2010 inclusive.