{"id":2208293,"date":"2025-02-07T08:00:27","date_gmt":"2025-02-06T23:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/?p=2208293"},"modified":"2025-02-06T14:06:52","modified_gmt":"2025-02-06T05:06:52","slug":"south-korea-faces-supply-chain-shock-as-china-restricts-rare-metal-exports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2025\/02\/south-korea-faces-supply-chain-shock-as-china-restricts-rare-metal-exports\/","title":{"rendered":"South Korea faces supply chain shock as China restricts rare metal exports"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">South Korea <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.motie.go.kr\/kor\/article\/ATCL3f49a5a8c\/170107\/view?mno=&amp;pageIndex=1&amp;rowPageC=0&amp;displayAuthor=&amp;searchCategory=0&amp;schClear=on&amp;startDtD=&amp;endDtD=&amp;searchCondition=1&amp;searchKeyword=\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">said<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on Wednesday it has enough strategic reserves and domestic production capacity to weather China\u2019s new export controls on tungsten and four other minerals, at least in the short term. The trade ministry said it holds about six months\u2019 worth of tungsten stockpiles and over three months of molybdenum supplies, though it acknowledged heavy reliance on Chinese imports with dependency rates of 85% and 90% respectively. While reserves offer a short-term buffer, a prolonged restriction could disrupt supply chains and drive up costs for firms like Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The export control measures, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mofcom.gov.cn\/zwgk\/zcfb\/art\/2025\/art_e623090907fc4e1092f0a4db72f57b95.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">announced<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by Beijing on Tuesday in response to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/fact-sheets\/2025\/02\/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-imposes-tariffs-on-imports-from-canada-mexico-and-china\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">U.S. tariffs<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, require Chinese exporters to obtain permits for shipping tungsten, molybdenum, germanium, bismuth and tellurium products \u2014 key materials used in semiconductors and displays. While South Korea\u2019s trade ministry stressed the controls don\u2019t amount to an outright ban, it said it would closely monitor supply chains and work to diversify import sources, noting that for some materials like indium, South Korea is already the world\u2019s second-largest producer after China.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>WHY IT MATTERS<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">China\u2019s latest export curbs tighten its grip on global supply chains, following similar restrictions on <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2023\/12\/chinas-export-restrictions-test-south-koreas-supply-chain-resilience\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">gallium, germanium and graphite<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in 2023. Those controls drove up costs for South Korea\u2019s semiconductor industry, and the new measures targeting tungsten and molybdenum are set to do the same.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beijing is using mineral exports as a trade weapon in response to U.S. tariffs and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2025\/01\/south-korea-secures-us-ai-tech-access-amid-tightened-export-controls-worldwide\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">restrictions<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on advanced semiconductor exports to China, pressuring U.S. allies that rely on its supply chains. With South Korea\u2019s semiconductor sector making up 20% of its exports, any disruption to raw material supplies could squeeze production costs and erode competitiveness.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Seoul has stockpiles, but they offer only a short-term buffer. Long-term diversification is costly and slow, forcing South Korea to accelerate its <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2024\/12\/south-korea-holds-supply-chain-talks-with-china-amid-domestic-chaos\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">diplomatic outreach<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to Beijing while concurrently restructuring supply chains and reducing dependency on Chinese imports. However, the technical and economic hurdles involved in diversifying supply chains mean that China\u2019s export control measures will cause long-term challenges for South Korea.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"content-tags\"><a href=\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/tag\/business-economy\/\"><span class=\"tag\">Business &amp; Economy<\/span><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/tag\/inter-korean-foreign-relations\/\"><span class=\"tag\">Inter-Korean &amp; Foreign Relations<\/span><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/tag\/technology-cyber\/\"><span class=\"tag\">Technology &amp; Cyber<\/span><\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>South Korea said on Wednesday it has enough strategic reserves and domestic production capacity to weather China\u2019s new export controls on tungsten and four other minerals, at least in the short term. The trade ministry said it holds about six months\u2019 worth of tungsten stockpiles and over three months of molybdenum supplies, though it acknowledged [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10407,"featured_media":2208294,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[24,28,29],"class_list":["post-2208293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-briefings","tag-business-economy","tag-inter-korean-foreign-relations","tag-technology-cyber"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>South Korea faces supply chain shock as China restricts rare metal exports - Korea Pro<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2025\/02\/south-korea-faces-supply-chain-shock-as-china-restricts-rare-metal-exports\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"South Korea faces supply chain shock as China restricts rare metal exports - Korea Pro\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"South Korea said on Wednesday it has enough strategic reserves and domestic production capacity to weather China\u2019s new export controls on tungsten and four other minerals, at least in the short term. The trade ministry said it holds about six months\u2019 worth of tungsten stockpiles and over three months of molybdenum supplies, though it acknowledged [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2025\/02\/south-korea-faces-supply-chain-shock-as-china-restricts-rare-metal-exports\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Korea Pro\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/nknewsorg\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-06T23:00:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-06T05:06:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/assets.korearisk.com\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/02\/eb-4.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1870\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"johnleenknews\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@southkoreapro\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@southkoreapro\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"KOREA PRO\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2025\/02\/south-korea-faces-supply-chain-shock-as-china-restricts-rare-metal-exports\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2025\/02\/south-korea-faces-supply-chain-shock-as-china-restricts-rare-metal-exports\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"johnleenknews\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/#\/schema\/person\/b9766dba611638edc06a6e0b7078714d\"},\"headline\":\"South Korea faces supply chain shock as China restricts rare metal exports\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-06T23:00:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-06T05:06:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2025\/02\/south-korea-faces-supply-chain-shock-as-china-restricts-rare-metal-exports\/\"},\"wordCount\":357,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2025\/02\/south-korea-faces-supply-chain-shock-as-china-restricts-rare-metal-exports\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/assets.korearisk.com\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/02\/eb-4.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Business &amp; 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