Magnet prices continue to soar. Since June, 2010 through June, 2011 the price of the Neodymium metal has increased 750%. According to an article on the website – www.metal-pages.com from June 22, 2011 China is moving to build a strategic stockpile of their rare earth metals which is continuing to reduce the material available for export. In the last year the export quotas have been slashed by 35%. At the moment China supplies 96.8% of the world’s total output of rare earth materials. China also consumes about 60% of the rare earth materials in their own manufacturing processes. China has roughly about 35% of the world’s known reserves of rare earth metals but the rest of the world has not developed their reserves. The high prices are driving many of the other owners of rare earth resources to start mining these reserves but it is taking time to build the mines and fight through government mining regulations. Long term, the prices will certainly come back down but the foreseeable future indicates that the prices will remain high.

We are holding our prices for the items we have in inventory but as we restock the new prices will be much higher. If your current application can adapt to sizes and shapes we have in stock, your near term price will be much better. We are not experiencing any problems with a shortage of magnets – just pricing.

Last summer I visited my magnet manufacturer and they allowed me to videotape the entire process for making these supermagnets. You can watch the video and see how these supermagnets are made - either on this site - Magnet Plant Tour or on YouTube.