China Imposes Export Controls on Tech for Rare Earth Extraction, Lidar Systems

China issued new export restrictions on four products this week, according to an unofficial translation of a Ministry of Commerce announcement. The four items are cell cloning and gene editing technology for human use, crop hybrid advantage utilization technology, "bulk material handling and transportation technology," and lidar systems.

The "bulk material handling and transportation technology" is used to extract, separate and produce rare earth metals and will likely have the biggest effect on the processing of "heavy rare earths," where China maintains a strong market position for refining, according to Reuters.

The ministry rolled out the announcement as part of a broader adjustment to its export control list, which also included dropping a handful of items from the export control list. Those items include green plant production regulator manufacturing technology, medical diagnostic equipment, and target feature extraction and identification technology. The ministry also adjusted the technical parameters of 37 items currently on the list, including economic crop cultivation and breeding technology.

The ministry said a license is needed to export the goods on the list and that it "will further optimize management measures" and look into simplifying export licensing in the future.