There are currently about 38,000 rare earth-related companies in China. In terms of geographic distribution, Inner Mongolia ranks first with 24,000 companies. Among them, Baotou City has 23,700 companies, accounting for 62.5%.
Baotou Rare Earth High-tech Zone has become the largest gathering place of rare earth industry in China. In addition, Jiangsu and Guangdong ranked the second and third with 1845 and 1,669 rare-earth related companies respectively.
From January to September 2020, the number of rare earth-related companies registered was 5,694, a year-on-year increase of 52%. much higher than that in the same period in 2019.
China’s rare earth industry has two major advantages in resources and market. The Bayan Obo mine in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region is recognized as the largest rare earth mine in the world.
It is also the only mine in the world that contains 17 rare earth elements at the same time, accounting for 83.7% of China’s total reserves.
From the perspective of industry distribution, 49% of China’s rare earth-related companies are in wholesale and retail, 15% are in manufacturing, and 7% are in rare earth-related companies such as scientific research and technical services.