Finansiella Insikter

De av er som inte köper att marknaden är riggad får ursäkta, men fredagen bjöd på ytterligare ett klassiskt knep ur ‘manualen’ – plocka fram några Fed-ledamöter som kan försöka lura i massorna att Fed inte bara kommer att sluta med QE utan även höja räntan, allt för att tillfälligt stödja dollarn och sätta press på guld. Löjeväckande!

Dan Norcini verkar vara av precis samma uppfattning. Här är ett utdrag från ett inlägg idag:

Enter the Fed officials today and yesterday. Apparently the strategy was to get several of the FOMC governors to hit the airwaves talking about ending the QE program. Since it is QE that has been partly responsible for Dollar weakness – along with the abysmal fiscal condition of the nation – something had to be done to prevent a Dollar crash. This is the reason we are getting a sudden rash of Fed officials looking for microphones and venues to talk about ending QE.

Result? Up goes the Dollar and down goes the precious metals market. Coincidence? I hardly think so.

Här är ett utdrag från Reuters:

The Federal Reserve is unlikely to extend its bond-buying program with the U.S. economy now on firmer footing, several Fed officials said on Friday, with one inflation hawk saying the Fed will have to raise rates and sell assets in the “not-too-distant future.”

I april 2010, innan dominobrickorna i Europa föll på löpande band med Grekland och Irland först ut, passade IMF på att utöka sin New Arrangement to Borrow (NAB), den fond som kan sägas vara till för att ‘rädda det finansiella systemet från en kollaps’, med hela 500 miljarder dollar till 550 miljarder dollar. Självklart visste IMF vad som höll på att ske och hur allvarlig situationen var.

Därför är det extra intressant att vi nu läsa att IMF har för avsikt att aktivera YTTERLIGARE en fond “Special Funding Pool”, för att ytterligare förstärka möjligheten att “förhindra eller lösa ekonomiska kriser”. Det är därmed långt ifrån orimligt att förvänta sig att det kommer att bli en turbulent vår i Euroland.

Att Portugal kommer att ansöka om räddning inom kort är givet och kanske till och med diskonterat, men när detta väl sker så kommer blickarna omedelbart att riktas mot Spanien. Och då kommer det genast bli mycket tuffare, för när Spanien väl faller då kommer det att få långtgående konsekvenser och sätta ännu högre fart på sedelpressarna.

Här är mer information via ZeroHedge:

IMF Prepares For “Threat To International Monetary System”

Back in April 2010, before Waddell and Reed sold a few shares of ES, effectively destroying the market on news that Europe was insolvent, we made the following observation: “The IMF has just announced that it is expanding its New Arrangement to Borrow (NAB) multilateral facility from its existing $50 billion by a whopping $500 billion (SDR333.5 billion), to $550 billion.” Little did we know that our conclusion “something big must be coming” would prove spot on just a month later after Greece, then Ireland, then Portgual, and soon Spain, Italy, Belgium, and pretty much all other European countries would topple like dominoes tethered together by a flawed monetary regime. Well, based on news from Dow Jones we can now safely predict the following: “something bigger must be coming.” As if the IMF’s trillions in open lending facilities (many of which have recently been adjusted to uncapped) were not enough, we now learn that the world lender of last resort (which in theory is the Fed, but apparently Bernanke has been getting a little shy lately so is offsetting his direct lending directives to secondary organizations like the IMF, leaving the Fed with only USD liquidity swaps) is about to activate a “Special Funding Pool” – Dow Jones explains: “The International Monetary Fund is expected to soon activate a special funding pool that will boost the fund’s ability to prevent or resolve economic crises, two people familiar with the situation said Thursday. One of the people said the activation of the funding–which can only be made by a special request from the IMF managing director to the board–was in anticipation of an expected wave of new IMF programs, including the possible expansion of the Greek bailout package.” Wonderful. Global financial cataclysm rinse repeat all over again…

More from Dow Jones:

Activating access to the funding pool could provide assurance to the market of the IMF’s ability to backstop any major funding crisis amid ongoing fears that Europe’s sovereign debt woes will worsen. The IMF board recently approved a boost to the so-called New Arrangements To Borrow, bringing the special pool of funding to around $580 billion, adding several hundred billion dollars to the total amount the fund has to tap. According to the IMF, the pool of supplementary resources are only to be activated when “needed to forestall or cope with a threat to the international monetary system.”

Although no request has been made, markets, analysts and economists say rejection by the Portuguese parliament Wednesday of a belt-tightening budget all but sealed the likelihood Lisbon will request aid from the IMF and the European Union.

Bottom line: there is a new threat to the international monetary system which means Europe May 2010 redux is imminent.

US taxpayers: our condolences.

Och så kom den då, marginalhöjningen för silver som vi bara väntat på. Uppgången för silver blev uppenbarligen för mycket för JPM att hantera enbart med papperssilver, utan man var tvungna att ringa sina ‘partners-in-crime’ på CME för att få stopp på tåget. Detta kan dock ge en del av oss en ypperlig möjlighet att köpa mer eftersom en osäkerhetsfaktor nu är undanröjd.

Det läskiga med marginalhöjningen är att den återigen kom efter ett kraftig ras för silver (och guld), som kartellen sedan utnyttjade till att skrämma ytterligare investerare till att sälja. Eftersom marknaden är riggad och man kände till CMEs beslut i förväg är det inte svårt för JPM att få fart på nedgången genom att ringa sina förtrogna (silverhandlare, hedgefonder etc) som mer än gärna hjälper till att sälja och tjäna enkla insider-pengar.

Den som fortfarande inte inser att marknaden är riggad och att kartellen existerar kommer aldrig att se det, oavsett bevis.

Här är en kommentar från Turd Ferguson:

All was well in the PMs and crude until roughly 1:00 EDT when, suddenly, a sharp spike lower appeared. I called Lind-Waldock. “Any rumors of margin increases?”, I asked. “Nope”, was the reply because, of course, they didn’t know. How could they? But…someone did! Down went the metals through the close and down even further on the Globex. Then, at long last and after giving their friends plenty of time to sell, the CME issues a press release raising margin requirements on silver. What a frickin joke. Martha frickin Stewart can do a year in the hole for selling a couple of hundred shares of some bullshit stock on supposed insider info but this crap on the Comex continues unabated. Absolutely fucking sickening.

NONE OF THEIR BS TACTICS CAN CHANGE THIS FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEM!

Next, we need to know where to BTFD because we definitely want to BTFD. Here you go:

Here’s the mentality you must have:
The margin increase is the pathetic, manipulative response of the CME as they try to protect themselves from the squeeze they are experiencing. Based on past and recent history, you knew it was coming. Ah, but here’s the rub. The fuckers at the CME aren’t going to raise again tomorrow or Monday. They’re done for a while. That “uncertainty” has now been removed. Less uncertainty means we can buy with more confidence. In the end, this is good news if you don’t panic sell and patiently BTFD.

Det dröjde inte länge efter mitt förra inlägg förrän guld och silver störtdök sedan oljan plötsligt börjat falla av någon anledning. Korrelationen till just olja har varit stor för guld den senaste tiden, så hedgefondernas algoritmer utlöste säljordrar på bred front.

Kartellen var inte sen att utnyttja det momentum som uppstod, utan såg som vanligt till att trycka till de båda metallerna ytterligare. Bli inte förvånade om de smider medan järnet är varmt och utnyttjar den tunna efterhandeln till ytterligare ‘attacker’. Kanske kommer även en marginalhöjning inom kort som lök på laxen. För den långsiktige investeraren i guld och silver är allt detta dock bara ‘brus’.

Här är en kommentar från Peter Grandich:

Gold and silver were “bombed” in the last hour after making new highs. Rest assured the bears will take this as a lifeline and there shall be all sorts of chatter about a key reversal. For hours or even days that may be the case but remember; being a bull is never easy in gold and silver but we ultimately won every battle up until now. Such shall be the case again IMHO.

Igår var det silver som lyckades ta sig igenom kartellens barriär vid 36-36,50 och efter en fortsatt slakt på dollarn idag blev det till slut för mycket för kartellen som blev tvungen att dra sig tillbaka från barriären vid 1440-1444, vilket har resulterat i ett nytt all-time-high för guld idag på 1447 dollar så här långt.

Vi bör som sagt se en uppgång till omkring 1500 dollar innan det blir dags att konsolidera. Det betyder inte att vi kan få se mindre stopp på vägen dit för att hämta andan.

Silver går fortsatt otroligt starkt och ser ut att vara på väg mot mitt första mål kring 40 dollar. Misstänker att en del kommer att välja att ta lite vinster vid denna nivå om vi når dit. Det är dock värt att komma ihåg att silver hör till de mest undervärderade tillgångarna som finns efter åratal av manipulation och när silver väl bryter sig loss, som vi nu verkar bevittna, så kan uppgången bli våldsam. Därför är det inte lätt att dra nytta av insikter kring hur silver betett sig de senaste åren, vilket kommer att innebära att många ‘experter’ totalt kommer att missbedöma uppgången och många av deras prenumeranter stå helt utanför marknaden.

Nedan är en kommentar samt graf från Dan Norcini:

Yesterday it was Silver that broke out of its congestion zone and began a new leg higher. Today it is Gold which has finally managed to clear the top of the congestion zone that had marked its trading pattern over the last few weeks. Volume on the breakout is strong.

The breakout also set a brand new all time high for the yellow metal in the process.

We are going to be encountering rollover pressure as speculative longs begin moving out of the April contract prior to its delivery period next week and into the June contract. Rollover periods are a very good time to gauge the strength of a move higher as it gives longs an excuse to either book profits or reinstate expiring long positions in the next active month contract. If the hedge funds in particular choose to simply rollover with a minimal amount of profit taking in the April, that will be quite positive for further gains in Gold as we move through the month of April.

Based on the extent of the congestion zone and the subsequent breakout, a technical price target for this move in gold is near $1490.

We should expect to see buying support under the market first at the breakout point near $1440, followed by $1435 and then $1420. I would prefer not to see any move below $1420 of any duration if this leg is going to yield a strong advance higher.

Och här är en graf över silver:

En kommentar från Jim Sinclair:

World shaking changes in the Middle East. Peak oil production. Inevitable hyperinflation. All attention on Japan as markets forget the growing foundation of international dislocation.

Stay focused. Stay disciplined.

Efter att ha stött på stort motstånd kring 36 dollar under en längre tid lyckades silver till sist att ta sig igenom denna barriär för att fortsätta resan uppåt. Och som många väntat sig så gick det ganska snabbt upp när vi väl tog oss igenom 36,50 dollar och det var heller inga problem som helst att ta sig igenom 37 dollar. Nästa motstånd finns troligtvis i intervallet 38-38,50 dollar.

Guld lyckades inte ta sig igenom motståndet kring 1440 dollar, men ser trots allt ut att vara redo att påbörja resan mot 1500 dollar när som helst. Kanske får vi stå ut med ytterligare test av 1420 innan nästa våg uppåt påbörjas. Med tanke på den svaga dollarn och rapporter om kraftigt stigande inflation (nu senast i Storbritannien) så var det inte oväntat att kartellen skulle göra allt den kunde för att få slippa se rubriker om nytt all-time-high för guld.

Det är värt att komma ihåg att det fortfarande finns en del fysiskt guld som tillfälligt kan dumpas på marknaden för att åstadkomma detta, men för silver finns inte längre den möjligheten, vilket är ganska tydligt med tanke på den kraftiga uppgången.

Så här kommenterar John Embry uppvisningen av guld och silver i en intervju med King World News:

Well my first thought is what took so long? We know what took so long, basically there has been a lot of activity by the bullion banks and their sponsors. But I mean to me it’s a very a simple equation, you can screw around with the paper market for a considerable period of time, but as the physical market gets tighter and tighter and this is really demonstrable in silver, I mean that is going to be what sets the price. What goes on in the physical market, when that takes over the prices are going much, much higher than they are today.

We are on our way to $40 in silver and then I’m sure they’ll fight around the round number for a bit, but I think the upside potential in silver is many, many tens of dollars higher from here.

When asked if gold was finally ready to take off Embry replied, “Yeah I think it is, I think the next move will take us to $1,500 in the near-term. By and large I just think we are moving higher, the question is whether we are going to get a breakaway move, a really big move like hundreds of dollars?

I’m on record as saying there will come a day when the gold price will move over $100 in a day. To date the cartel has been very effective in keeping daily gains to no more than 1%. You can see it when the gold price is up 1%, the unseen hand comes in and a lot of selling shows up.

When that breaks, and it will break, then I think you are going to see moves that will shock the people who don’t understand the true nature of the market.

Här är grafer över guld och silver från Dan Norcini:

Regelbundna läsare har sannolikt sedan länge känt på sig att finansmarknaden både är manipulerad och riggad men att den också är ett gigantiskt luftslott (ponzi spel). För varje dag som går får vi också fler pusselbitar som bevisar att så är fallet, även om den stora massan fortfarande är totalt ovetande av olika anledningar.

Den senaste ‘pusselbiten’ som bekräftar våra misstankar (eller i mitt fall övertygelse) om att vi för eller senare kommer att få se en silver default (även om det inkluderar öppen kontantersättning) kommer via en artikel i SeekingAlpha som noterar att JP Morgan i mitten på mars fått en ansökan om att få ett bankvalv auktoriserat för leverans och förvaring av bl a silver behandlad och godkänd på rekordtid. Det skall tilläggas att detta dessutom händer i mars, där många spekulerat att vi kan komma att få se en default och vi sett en rekordstor andel silverkontrakt som fortfarande står för leverans.

JPMs nya auktoriserade bankvalv innebär att banken kan ‘leverera’ fysiskt silver till sitt eget valv för att fullfölja åtagandet om leverans för sina korta kontrakt och slippa leverera till andra aktörer. Om våra misstankar att JPM i princip inte har något fysiskt silver att leverera, så kan banken därmed lättare maskera detta genom att påstå sig leverera till det egna valvet, där anställda fått order om att blunda för vad som sker. JPMs förhoppning är troligtvis att en tillräckligt stor andel kunder känner sig nöjda med att förvara sitt ‘fysiska silver’ hos JPM och att endast en mindre andel kommer att begära leverans. Leveransen till den sistnämnda gruppen investerare kan dessutom förhalas genom pappersexercis.

Om man lägger ihop detta med tidigare pusselbitar som t ex JPMs enorma korta silverposition, CFTC-förhöret i mars 2010, stämningar mot JP Morgan, den långa leveranstiden för Sprotts silver trust och svårigheten för Royal Canadian Mint mfl att få tag på silver så tror jag alla förstår hur detta kommer att sluta. Själv behöver jag inga mer bevis.

Rekommenderar att läsa artikeln (se nedan). Stycken som är extra intressanta är markerade med fet text:

Will JPMorgan Now Make and Take ‘Delivery’ of Its Own Silver Shorts?

There is nothing inherently wrong and certainly nothing “illegal” about J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM) gaining a vault license for storing and taking delivery of gold/silver/platinum/palladium from the futures markets known as NYMEX/COMEX. However, the speed, timing and manner in which the exchanges just granted it troubles us.

The process of being approved as a licensed vault or weigh-master/assayer for the NYMEX/COMEX futures exchange usually involves a careful security inspection of the vaults, a full report of that inspection, and a completely transparent package submitted to the U.S. Commodity Futures Exchange Commission (CFTC) for approval. This process will ordinarily consume considerably more than 45 days. Apparently, such correct and careful practices apply only to banks and independent storage facilities that are not J.P. Morgan Chase.

Some vault operators are more equal than others. JPM appears immune from processes that everyone else must suffer through. On March 15, 2011, the Commodity Exchange (COMEX) and the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) advised the CFTC that they had approved J.P. Morgan’s application to become a licensed vault facility, using a “self-certification” process. The newly licensed vault, located at 1 Chase Manhattan Plaza, NY, NY, is ready to roll as both “weighmaster” and depository, for delivery of gold, silver, platinum and palladium contracts, as of March 17, 2011, two days later.

As a smaller player, the NYSE-Liffe exchange uses COMEX licensed depositories for delivery and storage of its metals. The new JPM vault, therefore, will also qualify to accept delivery of metal coming from the maturity of NYSE-Liffe gold and silver futures contracts, including the smaller 1,000 ounce silver contract.

Departures from usual practices, and special treatment in favor of some over others are events that lawyers describe as having “the appearance of impropriety”, if nothing more. J.P. Morgan is a huge player in the London precious metals market, especially in derivatives. It has always been a very important player at NYMEX/COMEX, especially if you include its Bear Stearns division. The bank is heavily involved in infamous “unallocated storage” schemes in London. A more complete description of London-style storage can be found in my previous article.

JPM is one of six big bank owners of the London Precious Metals Clearing Limited (LPMCL) which clears, “delivers” and sets standards for “storing” precious metals allegedly “sold” at the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) and the London Platinum and Palladium Market (LPPM). Unallocated storage is the norm at LPMCL member banks, including J.P. Morgan Chase.

Allocated storage, however, is the norm for precious metals vaults licensed by NYMEX and COMEX. The two futures exchanges have approved a small group of vault operators, who provide allocated storage to clearing members and their customers. This has given greater legitimacy to the NY exchange traded precious metals venue than the LBMA now has. It is true that NYMEX/COMEX warehouse supplies are wholly insufficient to cover the number of short contracts the exchange allows its clearing members to write. However, at least the numbers are transparent and published. That is more than can be said for the storage facilities that participate in the secretive LPMCL in London.

Allocated storage, under the common law, is known as a “bailment.” When precious metal is allocated, the vault is the “bailee” and the owner is the “bailor”. The bailee is keeping the property safe for the bailor and, in return, it charges a fee for its services, but the property belongs to the bailor at all times. The property cannot be legally leased, loaned, borrowed or used in any way without overt consent by the bailor. Whereas unallocated metal is an asset that is seized by a vault’s creditors in bankruptcy, allocated metal is immune from this.

A bailment cannot be legally seized or encumbered by the bailee’s creditors. Some of the NYMEX/COMEX vaults require a written bailment contract, setting out all rights and responsibilities of the customer and vault. Others operate in the old fashioned way (though the handshake is now often electronic) and, in such cases, the agreement between bailor and bailee is governed by traditional common law standards with no need to sign anything.

There are two storage categories in the NYMEX/COMEX scheme, known as “registered” and “eligible”. Regardless of the category, all bars are allocated by title, and are always of a size, weight and composition that would satisfy “good delivery” if the owner decided to deliver it. An exception to the idea of “global” allocation may occur if “registered” metal is kept in the name of a clearing member, but the bars actually belong to a customer.

This might happen when and if the clearing broker uses the bars as a form of “collateral” to back up performance bonds in a customer account. In such a case, the “bailment” (and allocated storage) would exist between the vault and the clearing member. I use the word “collateral” loosely because true collateral would remain titled to the debtor. In the NYMEX/COMEX scheme, registered bars are always titled in the name of a clearing member of the exchange, whereas eligible bars can be titled in the name of a customer or a clearing member.

In order to be delivered, eligible bars must be transferred into the registered category. This involves nothing more than an electronic entry, “wrapping” the correct number of units into what is called a warehouse “warrant.” Each warrant constitutes a “good delivery” unit of metal sufficient to satisfy one short contract obligation. “Good delivery” means that each bar must be of a standard weight sufficient to meet the rules of the exchange and must be numbered and weighed. Each storage facility must always keep a “chain of title” history record for each bar.

Delivery at NYMEX/COMEX is first made to any licensed vault facility. Once the unit of metal arrives, title is transferred to the new owner. The new owner can do whatever he wants with his property. He can remove it from the bailment and take it into his own personal possession. He can transfer to a different vault. Or, he can keep the metal at the initial point of delivery. In many cases, the last option is chosen, so, often the bar never leaves the delivery vault until it is eventually resold and, usually, not even then. Bars can be delivered, and title transferred, without ever having left the vault.

Until now, JP Morgan did not have a NYMEX/COMEX vault license. They had to send silver, for example, to HSBC, Brinks, Scotia Mocatta and/or the Delaware Depository in order to “deliver” it on COMEX. Those vaults have been NYMEX/COMEX licensed for a very long time. But now J.P. Morgan has its own vault license, and the manner in which it seems to have obtained it, is troubling. The bank can now, potentially, deliver short obligations to itself. Yes, you read that correctly. The bank itself, if it still holds short silver positions, and/or the hedge funds/related financial institutions who may have taken over the positions, can now deliver the alleged metal to J.P. Morgan’s own vault.

The American legal standard requires us to maintain a presumption of innocence until guilt is proven. That doesn’t mean Americans are stupid. Only a fool would ignore the testimony given at the CFTC hearing held on March 25, 2010, or the fact that J.P. Morgan Chase is being sued, in two different class actions, accused of being a racketeering and corrupt influenced organization (RICO). Both lawsuits claim that the bank is using allegedly immense silver short positions in various venues, including COMEX, to manipulate prices.

If a short seller must deliver a commodity, and the commodity is not readily available, there is no better way to buy extra time than to be able to deliver into its own vault. Most of the metal will never leave the vault, and most delivered metal that will leave the vault won’t leave right away. Indeed, paperwork tasks of transferring title can consume a few days. Thus, a late delivery may not be noticed if it is to the short seller’s own vault if the vault operation staff chooses to remain silent.

Why was JPM awarded a vault license almost overnight, avoiding the lengthy vetting process others must undergo? Why did it happen in the middle of a major COMEX silver delivery month, during a massive worldwide silver short squeeze, at a time when physical silver is in severe shortage? We do not know the answers to these questions. The exchange rules should prohibit proprietary trading divisions, hedge funds and other closely associated or controlled financial institutions, from delivering to vaults owned or controlled by their own family of companies. Yet, no such rules exist.

Does the licensing of a NYMEX/COMEX JPM vault reflect short-seller panic? Paper money can be printed, of course, ad infinitum and endless reams of it can be borrowed from the Fed. The issue is how much paper money is needed to pry sufficient physical silver loose from the hands of its owners. We believe that an equilibrium level of about $52 per troy ounce would be sufficient. Assuming that the holdings of the various ETFs are not the scam that some have claimed, there is a huge potential supply right there.

Large delivery requirements can be met by cashing in on “baskets” of ETF shares for silver. There is also a huge supply of hoarded bars outside of ETFs, waiting for the right price to set them free. If supply problems continue, the price must rise further until sufficient selling occurs. Most owners of ETF shares, as well as holders of real physical silver, are not momentum chasers. They buy low and sell high in a traditional manner. Momentum chasers are irrelevant because they generally have only paper, and no real metal to deliver.

Remember, your bars can be transferred from one licensed facility to another very quickly. If any storage facility imposes a significant delay, that should be publicized, and met with resolute opposition. Neither silver nor other metals must be stored at licensed vault. They certainly need not be left at the first point of delivery. If you intend to use silver, for example, in commerce (such as a jeweler or industrial user might) or if you expect to keep it off the market for 20 years or so as a retirement fund, it is economically more efficient to physically remove the metal.

If anyone has any positive or negative experiences with the newly licensed J.P. Morgan vault, we would be very interested in learning about them.

Rare earth aktier bokstavligen exploderade under tisdagens handel efter att Reuters rapporterat att oxid-priserna brutit igenom $100,000 dollar per ton för första gången i februari. Molycorp och Rare Element Resources var t ex upp med 18 respektive 23 procent.

Aktierna har därmed mer än återhämtat sig efter den kraftiga nedgången till följd av katastrofen i Japan. Värderingarna för bolagen är baserade på oxid-priser som ligger låååångt under dagens, så frågan är om ens katastrofen i Japan kan sätta stopp för detta tåget. Det skall bli intressant att följa utvecklingen framöver.

För de som inte redan gjort det rekommenderar jag att läsa följande inlägg som jag skrev nyligen. Kom ihåg att även om potentialen är enorm så är riskerna stora så de flesta skall nog ändå hålla sig till guld och silver.

Här är artikeln från Reuters:

China rare earth prices explode as export volumes collapse

(Reuters) – China’s exports of rare earth metals burst through the $100,000-per-tonne mark for the first time in February, up almost ninefold from a year before, while the volume of trade stayed far below historical averages.

China’s squeeze on rare earths, which are used in a wide range of hardware including precision-guided weapons, hybrid car batteries and iPads, has forced prices up dramatically since July last year, when each tonne fetched a mere $14,405 on average.

The apparent price rises have averaged $10,000 per tonne per month but accelerated in February, galloping ahead by $34,000 per tonne, according to Reuters calculations based on data from China’s Customs office.

Last month each tonne of exports was valued at $109,036, including the cost of insurance and freight, almost half as much again as the average value in January.

The explosion in export values has coincided with a collapse in volumes coming out of China, the source of almost all the world’s rare earth supplies, which has cut export quotas of the 17 rare earth metals and raised tariffs on exports.

China’s actions have infuriated its trading partners but lifted the shares of the few mining and prospecting companies outside China that are well-placed to capitalize on the constriction of Chinese supply.

They include U.S. miner Molycorp Inc, Canada’s Rare Element Resources and Neo Material Technologies and Australia’s Arafura and Lynas.

But those firms’ share prices have been under pressure this month because Japan’s earthquake and tsunami are expected to temporarily slash demand from China’s biggest customer. In February, 281 tonnes of Chinese exports went to Japan, valued at $38.9 million or $138,406 per tonne.

China exported a total of 750 tonnes in February, slightly more than the 647 tonnes shipped in January but otherwise the lowest monthly volume since February 2009, when demand was hit by the global financial crisis.

China’s Customs office changed its method of presenting rare earths exports in its headline data this year, boosting the reported volume by including products made from rare earth metals in the total.

By that method, exports were 2,976 tonnes in February, up by 132 percent from a year before, when the figure did not include rare earth products.