South Korea to double stockpiles of rare-earth minerals

South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said on Friday it will double the government's stockpiles of rare-earth minerals and halve their time until release to boost the supply chain for core minerals.

The ministry announced the measures as part of a comprehensive plan to stockpile such minerals.

The plan noted that the number of types of stockpiled minerals will be raised from 25 to 26 and the number of items from 34 to 41, with enough supply to last 100 days instead of 54. Stockpiles of non-ferrous minerals will also be boosted to cover 60 days, up from 50.

The period until the release of rare-earth minerals will be halved, from 60 days to 30, and the adoption of an emergency release system will supply metals to companies needing them within eight days.

A circular lending system will allow for long-term contracts with private companies, to deliver rare-earth minerals from government stockpiles in six-month cycles without fees for payment-in-kind or monetary payments.

The credit sales system will be expanded to cover such minerals as well as non-ferrous minerals.

The ministry also announced plans to build a stockpile base for rare-earth minerals and form a committee on stockpiling core minerals to check the domestic status of core minerals sourcing with experts from industry, academia and the research sector.

An early warning system is also being set up to immediately alert related sectors of any instability in the supply of and demand for core minerals.

Write to Ji-Hoon Lee at lizi@hankyung.com