On June 15, 2026, the "Regulations for the Implementation of the Mineral Resources Law of the People's Republic of China" officially came into effect. Thirty-six critical minerals, including rare earths, tungsten, lithium, cobalt, gallium, and germanium, were added to the national catalog of strategic mineral resources. With the launch of a coordinated system covering the entire chain of "exploration, production, supply, reserve, and sales," the supply security, market pricing, and industrial competition landscape for China's critical minerals are undergoing systematic restructuring. This move solidifies the resource security foundation for core industrial chains such as new energy, high-end manufacturing, and future technologies.
Against the backdrop of intensifying geopolitical competition and nations racing to build self-sufficient, controllable supply chains, the strategic importance of rare earths as "industrial vitamins" is further highlighted. Rare earths possess irreplaceable excellent magnetic, optical, and electrical properties, making them widely used in fields like new energy, electronic information, national defense, and embodied robotics. They have been included in the "critical minerals list" by many countries. To ensure supply security and enhance global governance capabilities and industrial chain influence in the rare earth sector, China has implemented multiple policies, including export controls.
Influenced by these developments, trading in rare earth-themed ETFs was active during the early session today (June 16, 2026). Data from Wind and the exchanges show that the HuaTai-PineBridge Rare Earth ETF (516780) saw a net inflow of nearly 24 million yuan in a single day yesterday, with its latest fund units outstanding reaching 2.413 billion. Since the beginning of this year, its average daily trading volume has reached 189 million yuan, demonstrating relatively strong liquidity advantages. The product's 2025 annual report revealed that the number of holders of the HuaTai-PineBridge Rare Earth ETF (516780) reached 60,300, making it the only rare earth-themed ETF in the market at that time with over 50,000 holders.
Regarding price expectations for rare earths, China Securities (CSC) noted that prices fluctuated and adjusted last week. Praseodymium-neodymium prices stabilized weakly after a decline, dysprosium prices retreated after an increase, and terbium prices were raised. It is anticipated that rare earth prices will remain stable with a slight upward bias in the near term. On the supply side, expectations for production cuts persist, potentially further suppressing the overall supply increase for the year. On the demand side, magnet manufacturers are operating steadily, with raw material inventories generally low. As long-term contract prices are higher than spot market prices, there is a greater inclination towards purchasing from the spot market. Market sentiment has shown some signs of recovery, which is expected to provide support for prices.
It is reported that the HuaTai-PineBridge Rare Earth ETF (516780) is the market's first ETF focusing on the rare earth industry. It closely tracks the CSI Rare Earth Industry Index, which selects companies involved in the upstream, midstream, and downstream segments of the rare earth industry, including mining, processing, trade, and application, to reflect the overall performance of listed securities in this sector. Its top five constituent stocks are China Northern Rare Earth (Group) High-Tech Co., Ltd., Goldwind Science & Technology Co., Ltd., Xiamen Tungsten Co., Ltd., China Rare Earth Holdings Limited, and GEM Co., Ltd., all of which are leading enterprises with strong competitiveness within the industry.
Huatai-PineBridge Fund, as one of China's first ETF managers, has been dedicated to the field of index investment for over 19 years. It has created transparent, convenient-to-trade, and low-cost index tool products for investors, such as the Huatai-PineBridge CSI 300 ETF (510300) and the Huatai-PineBridge A500 ETF (563360). As of the end of March 2026, the company's ETFs had cumulatively generated profits exceeding 223.4 billion yuan for holders over the preceding two years, making it one of only three public fund companies in the entire A-share market to achieve cumulative profits over 200 billion yuan during the same period.
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