After Rare Earth and Cobalt, why are now Ferrite Magnet costs also increasing?

Although the applications of NdFeB magnet are more and more comprehensive, the market share of Ferrite magnet is still very large. Ferrite magnets are commonly used in various applications in the past several decades, such as loudspeakers, motors and generators

The prices of rare earth products had experienced a significant change over the past few months, now Ferrite manufacturers also start to adjust their price. The reason for the price increase is caused by the raw material cost variation and its underlying environmental question.

The iron scale and Strontium carbonate are the main raw materials for Ferrite magnets, their prices are increasing. Also the prices of Lanthanum oxide and Cobalt oxide are increasing as well.

The surface of steel will be oxidized during heating and rolling process. We call those fish scale-liked materials as iron scale. The iron scale can be used as oxidizing agent and the raw material of iron powder. The iron scale is also one of the major raw materials of Ferrite magnet.

Most of Chinese steel enterprises are located in Northern China. Now the winter is coming, in order to ensure the air quality during the heating season, steel enterprises start to slow down their productions and this will influence the supply of iron scale.

Strontium carbonate is the raw material for preparation of other strontium salt and it is applied broadly in luminescent glass, medical and papermaking.

Most of Chinese mining companies use reduction-double composition method to manufacture the Strontium carbonate from Celestine, the waste residue and hydrogen sulfide will be generated in the leaching process and carbonation reaction respectively. How to properly treat this harmful substance is an important issue due to the nationwide environmental storm in China this year.

When the Br of Ferrite magnet is higher than 0.41 Tesla, the manufacturer can call it high-performance Ferrite. Japanese giant TDK firstly introduced Lanthanum and Cobalt to the crystal structure and developed the high-performance La-Co substituted Ferrite magnet. The Lanthanum and Cobalt tremendously enhanced the remanence, intrinsic coercivity and maximum magnetic energy product of Ferrite magnet.

As one of rare earth elements, the price of Lanthanum also experienced a rapid growth in 2017. It should also be pointed out that the price of Cobalt element will be continuous increasing due to the supply and huge demand from the Lithium battery industry (EV).