Roland Berger: Chinese demand boosts ten-fold soar of worldwide rare earth market volume in 2011

Roland Berger released a scenario study on rare earths, saying that due to skyrocketing prices, worldwide market volumes for the 17 elements known as "rare earths" are expected to rise to EUR 27 billion in 2011. Just three years ago, global market volumes for these metals amounted to only EUR 2.4 billion. Besides greater industry demand, the reason for exploding prices is primarily due to China's monopoly position as the global supplier.