BEIJING (Reuters) -China’s commerce ministry said on Thursday that it would impose export controls on antimony and other elements, in the name of protecting national interests and security, effective from Sept. 15.
China, the world’s largest producer of antimony, a strategic metal used in flame-retardants, batteries and munitions, accounted for 48% of global antimony mine production last year, U.S. Geological Survey data showed.
The came after a wave of restrictions that it has introduced since last year.
China announced it would ban the export of technology to make rare earth magnets, on top of a ban already in place on exporting technology to extract and separate the critical materials.
Beijing tightened exports of some graphite products last December.
Also, it imposed restrictions on exports of gallium and germanium products-widely used in the semiconductor industry from last August.
(Reporting by Qiaoyi Li, Amy Lv and Bernard OrrEditing by Christina Fincher)
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