China Rare Earth Group Plans Greater Kunming Investment, Targets Supply-Chain Expansion

Highlights

• CREG leadership met with Kunming city officials to discuss increased investment and supply-chain attraction, though no specific figures or projects were disclosed.
• REEx research found China imported roughly 41,700 tonnes of Myanmar heavy rare-earth oxides in 2023, more than twice China's domestic HREE mining quota that year.
• Kunming functions as a logistics gateway into a broader HREE network spanning Yunnan, Hunan, Jiangxi and Guangdong, not merely a final processing destination.
• CREG operated 35 smelting and separation enterprises across nine provinces in 2024, with feedstock traced from Myanmar, Laos and Malaysia.
• REEx estimates approximately 98% of global HREE separation into oxides occurs in China, making midstream processing the true strategic chokepoint.