Japan and India Launch Critical-Mineral Recycling Push as China Pressure Tests Asia's Magnet Supply Chain

Highlights

• Japan and India convened their first joint critical-mineral recycling conference in New Delhi, drawing 130 government, industry, and recycling participants.
• India has committed $156.7 million USD to incentivize recovery of critical minerals from e-waste and spent batteries, but industrial capacity remains limited.
• China's export restrictions on dysprosium and terbium are pushing Japanese magnet makers like Shin-Etsu and TDK to seek alternative supply chains.
• Honda Trading Corporation India is actively seeking Indian recycling partners to diversify rare-earth sourcing away from China.
• Experts caution that collecting e-waste is not equivalent to recovering magnet-grade NdPr, Dy, or Tb at commercial scale.

Japan and India are turning yesterday's electronics into tomorrow's strategic minerals. On August 21, the two governments convened their first joint conference dedicated to strengthening critical-mineral supply chains through recycling, bringing roughly 130 government, industry, and recycling participants together in New Delhi. The meeting is more consequential than its modest size suggests: Japan remains the world's leading rare-earth magnet producer outside China, while India combines enormous e-waste volumes with ambitions to build its own critical-mineral industry. In Rare Earth Exchanges® Great Powers Era 2.0™, this is what supply-chain geopolitics increasingly looks like—not simply finding new mines, but connecting allied feedstock, recycling, processing technology, and downstream manufacturing. And as REEx has chronicled, this will increasingly unfold in networks.

REEx Insight: Tokyo Has the Know-How. Delhi Has the Urban Mine.

The strategic fit reported in The Japan Times (opens in a new tab) is compelling. Japan brings sophisticated manufacturers, metallurgical expertise, and decades of experience responding to Chinese rare-earth leverage. India offers scale, industrial growth, and an enormous reservoir of discarded electronics. India has already committed ₹15 billion (₹1,500 crore) or $156.7 million USD to incentivize recovery of critical minerals from e-waste, spent lithium-ion batteries, and other secondary sources.

But investors should distinguish conference-room alignment from industrial capacity. No major plant, binding offtake, recycling volume, or recovered rare-earth production target was announced. Japan's Environment Ministry has itself highlighted India's recycling challenges, including the realities of its informal e-waste sector.

China's Pressure Makes the Partnership Less Theoretical

Timing matters. China's restrictions have squeezed Japanese access to dysprosium, terbium, and other strategic materials, forcing manufacturers to diversify. Japan remains the largest rare-earth magnet producer outside China, with companies including Shin-Etsu Chemical and TDK exposed to Chinese upstream supply risk.

That makes Joji Murakami's message notable. The president of Honda Trading Corporation India said Honda is seeking Indian recycling partners as it diversifies sourcing. Honda Trading independently confirms Murakami became president of its Indian operation in April 2026.

The missing piece is economics. Collecting e-waste is not the same as recovering magnet-grade NdPr, Dy, or Tb—and recycling cannot replace primary mining and separation at today's scale.

REEx Bottom Line: Japan and India have complementary pieces of a non-Chinese supply chain, but they have not yet assembled the machine. In Great Powers Era 2.0™, the winners will be nations that connect waste and ore all the way through separation, metals, alloys, and magnets. This meeting is a meaningful first connection—not yet a substitute for China.