High Rare-Earth Prices Force Hitachi, Toyota to Find Alternative
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Japanese rare-earth buyers are switching to quarterly sales contracts and looking for alternative sources after China curbed shipments, increasing prices for the materials used in hybrid cars and missiles.
Prices have increased by as much as three times since May, hurting companies such as Hitachi Metals Ltd., which makes magnetic and electronic materials, said Shinya Yamada, a Tokyo-based analyst at Credit Suisse AG. Higher costs may drive users to avoid applications based on the 17 chemically similar elements entirely, Yamada said.