Rare Earths Shortage Hits Foxconn Unit
Production of Apple AirPods has been hampered at Foxconn's Telangana plant due to shortage of dysprosium, a direct result of China's clampdown on the export of rare earth metals, said people aware of the matter.The Foxconn Interconnect Technology (FIT) factory is located at Kongara Kalan, about 45 km from Hyderabad. FIT, listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, is a core subsidiary of Hon Hai Technology Group (Foxconn), Taiwanese multinational electronics contract manufacturer.The Apple vendor said production hasn't been disrupted. It had begun making AirPods at the India plant in April last year, as part of Apple's broader strategy to diversify manufacturing from China.The earbuds contain neodymium and dysprosium, among other rare earth metals. Neodymium, used as a magnet, is mined in China and elsewhere.Foxconn brought the supply issue to the notice of the Telangana government, said one of the people cited.The Telangana government, in turn, raised the matter with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), said the person. 'Foxconn has sought the state government's help to get the end user certificate (EUC) certified and attested by central ministries,' the person said.The EUC verifies the recipient and intended use of goods, especially those with a potential for misuse or diversion.'Foxconn got the end user certificate from the ministry of external affairs and the Chinese embassy, as part of the process,' said another person. 'After that, Foxconn's supplier submitted it for approval (of dysprosium exports) to the Chinese government. But it is still pending, and the (Chinese) government has not given approval yet. Once that is done, the supplier will export the rare earth metal.'Apple didn't respond to queries. Foxconn said it 'has no comment on the issue,' adding, 'There is no disruption to production.'In India, Apple counts Foxconn and Tata Electronics as its major suppliers. Foxconn is Apple's biggest contract maker globally.'There was indeed some slowdown in production at the Foxconn AirPods plant, but it seems to have improved now,' said another industry official. 'The supply chain for the metal is a bit longer, but the company is managing the situation now.''The Foxconn logistics team is expecting approval by the end of this month,' said the second person quoted earlier. 'The stipulated time frame from the date of application for approval is 45-50 days. Foxconn is working with whatever rare earth metals and dysprosium are already available with them to extend the product cycle before they get the additional material.'Seven categories of medium and heavy rare earths — samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium and yttrium-related items — were placed on an export control list by China early in April in retaliation to US President Donald Trump's tariff threats.ET reported on July 18 that the India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) lobby group had informed the government that the curbs were leading to delays and inflating costs. Apple and Foxconn are among ICEA's members.It was reported earlier this month that Foxconn had recalled over 300 Chinese engineers, reportedly at the behest of Beijing, from its Indian iPhone manufacturing plants. Experts said at that time that while Chinese engineers can possibly be replaced by Taiwanese professionals, the bigger concern was machinery and metals. Curbs on those make it harder to sustain operations, they had said.China issued its first rare earth mining and smelting quotas for the year on July 18, according to Reuters. The quotas are closely monitored as a barometer of the global supply of rare earths, a group of 17 elements used in electric vehicles, wind turbines, robots and missiles, the news agency said. China is the world's largest producer of the minerals.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Economic Times
2 minutes ago
- Economic Times
Greenhouse gases aren't harmful? Donald Trump administration likely to make shocking announcement
Live Events FAQs (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel President Donald Trump 's administration is preparing to upend a foundational scientific determination about the harms of greenhouse gases that underpins the US government's ability to curb climate change. A proposal from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to change the so-called "Endangerment Finding" was sent to the White House on June 30, a spokesperson told AFP. An announcement is expected imminently. Here's what to know -- and what's at stake if the finding is Clean Air Act of 1970 empowered the EPA to regulate "air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare." For decades, the law applied to pollutants like lead, ozone and as climate science around the dangers of heat-trapping greenhouse gases advanced in the 2000s, a coalition of states and nonprofit groups petitioned the EPA to include them under the law, focusing on motor issue reached the Supreme Court, which in 2007 ruled that greenhouse gases qualify as air pollutants and directed the EPA to revisit its led to the 2009 Endangerment Finding, which declared greenhouse gases a threat to public health and welfare, based on overwhelming scientific consensus and peer-reviewed research."That 2009 finding formed the basis for all of EPA's subsequent regulations," Meredith Hankins, a senior attorney on climate and energy for the activist Natural Resources Defense Council, told AFP."They've issued greenhouse gas standards for tailpipe emissions from motor vehicles, smokestack emissions from power plants -- all of these individual rulemakings trace themselves back to the 2009 Endangerment Finding."The Endangerment Finding has withstood multiple legal challenges, and although Trump's first administration considered reversing it, they ultimately held the finding is now a direct target of Project 2025, a far-right governance blueprint closely followed by the March, the EPA under Administrator Lee Zeldin announced a formal reconsideration of the finding."The Trump Administration will not sacrifice national prosperity, energy security, and the freedom of our people for an agenda that throttles our industries, our mobility, and our consumer choice while benefiting adversaries overseas," he government is expected to undo the earlier finding that greenhouse gases endanger public will argue that the economic costs of regulation have been undervalued -- and downplay the role of US motor vehicle emissions in climate fact, transportation is the largest source of US greenhouse gas 1970, the United States has emitted more vehicle-based greenhouse gases than the next nine countries combined, according to an analysis by the Institute for Policy Integrity that will soon be published in full.A1. President of USA is Donald Trump.A2. The largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in US is transportation
Mint
32 minutes ago
- Mint
Brazil Producers Look to Halt Pig Iron Output as US Tariff Threat Crimps Demand
Some of Brazil's pig iron producers are looking at halting operations as tariff tensions shrink demand from customers in the US, the top buyers of cargoes from the South American nation. Modulax will shut down operations next week, with plans for doing maintenance work that was originally scheduled for later in the year, according to the Chief Executive Officer Geraldo Basques. 'We have no date to resume production,' he said in an interview, citing the trade concerns. Rival producer Css Siderurgica Setelagoana said in an emailed statement that it's operating with raw-material inventories while awaiting more clarity on the tariff situation, but also warned that it could be forced to shutter operations once the stockpiles are depleted. The moves come as US President Donald Trump threatened a 50% levy on the Latin American country starting Aug. 1. US importers are taking a wait-and-see stance before accepting possible higher prices for the material — a critical component needed to make steel in the US. Brazilian producers are considering granting paid leave to workers along with layoffs as some buyers have already suspended contracts, said Fausto Varela, head of industry union Sindifer. The union has been in talks with Brazilian lawmakers as trade negotiations between the nation and the US haven't progressed as expected. 'It is almost impossible to redirect these sales to other markets in the short term,' said Varela. 'If there is no market, there is no way around it: we'll stop.' Brazil is the US's largest supplier of the material. And the trade is crticial for the South American economy. Roughly a third of Brazil's pig iron exports in the first half this year went the US, according to government data. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Indian Express
an hour ago
- Indian Express
Trump's 50% tariff threat hits Brazilian chemical exports as US orders cancelled
Brazilian chemical exporters are seeing contracts cancelled after US President Donald Trump announced plans to impose a 50% tariff on Brazilian goods starting 1 August, Reuters reported. Brazil exported about $2.4 billion worth of chemical products to the United States last year. Since the tariff threat, orders for some products including resins and compounds used to make fertilisers have been cancelled, said Andre Cordeiro, head of Brazilian chemical industry group Abiquim. 'These decisions are being made because people believe he will actually go ahead with the tariff,' Cordeiro told Reuters on Friday. He said one company had all of its US export contracts cancelled, while others lost parts of their orders. In some cases, exporters had already arranged financing before the cancellations. Cordeiro did not name the affected companies. The impact is not limited to direct chemical exports. 'No one produces coffee, even grains, without some kind of chemical product in the process,' he said. According to Cordeiro, chemical firms are also losing domestic sales to Brazilian companies that export to the US. He cited plywood manufacturers, who use chemicals for bonding and have also lost orders, and orange juice producers, who rely on chemical preservatives. Last year, 42% of Brazil's orange juice exports went to the US. Large firms such as Braskem and Dow Chemical may also be affected. Braskem has operations in the US, while Dow, which runs 10 plants in Brazil, exports silicon metal to the American market. Neither company commented when contacted by Reuters. Exxon Mobil, which also operates in Brazil, declined to comment. Abiquim says the tariffs are unjustified, pointing out that Brazil's chemical sector runs a $7.9 billion trade deficit with the United States.
