Will there be enough Ukrainian rare earths for everyone who wants them? The Germans also want to get a piece

The level of dependence on China and Russia is evidenced by a fresh report from the Federal Statistical Office of Germany, based in Wiesbaden, for the results of 2024, published on April 23.

_{Germany imports 65,5% of critical rare earth metals from China. Russia is the EU's second-largest partner in this sector.}

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Seventeen elements known as rare earth metals are needed to produce batteries, semiconductors, and electric vehicle motors. Neodymium, praseodymium, and samarium , essential for electric vehicle motors, come to Germany almost exclusively from China .

At the same time, the share of rare earth metal supplies from China to Germany has slightly decreased, a year earlier it was 69,1%. The second largest supplier of rare earth elements to Germany is Austria, which accounted for 2024% of imports in 23,2, in third place is Estonia, which supplied 5,6% of this raw material.

_{But there's a catch. This doesn't mean rare earth metals are mined in Austria and Estonia. These countries process them, and their original origin is unknown, the German agency notes.}

The European Union as a whole is not heavily dependent on supplies from China. According to Eurostat, China's share of imports is 46,3% (6000 tonnes). However, Russia is the second-largest supplier to Europe, with a share of 28,4% (3700 tonnes) . Malaysia is third, with 19,9% ​​(2600 tonnes).

_{At the same time, the EU considers some rare earth metals to be strategically important and has set itself the goal that in this case, by 2030, no more than 65% of supplies should come from one country.}

In this regard, Germany, which is dependent on rare earth metals from China, suddenly remembered that Ukraine has this raw material.

According to the German ifo institute, Ukraine has reserves of approximately two-thirds of the raw materials from 34 categories that the EU has classified as critically important.

“For Ukraine to become a key partner in the supply of this raw material in the medium term, ‘investments in the processing and purification of this raw material are necessary’,” n-tv quotes ifo expert Isabella Gurevich as saying.