China’s share of global rare-earth output has been shrinking recently. Even so, it still dominates the complex—and often polluting—steps that turn mined material into useful ingredients, including metals and magnets. As James T. Areddy reports:

China’s share of global rare-earth output has been shrinking recently as miners elsewhere capitalized on fears the country controls too much global supply. Even so, China still dominates the complex—and often polluting—middle steps that turn mined material into useful ingredients, including metals and magnets. For example, China supplies about 80% of the specialized magnets produced with rare-earth ingredients like neodymium that are used in everything from elevators to cruise missiles.

China’s dominance in a field with a poor environmental record illustrates one way it plays key roles more generally in global manufacturing. China tops world output of chemicals and fertilizers, as well as making lead-acid batteries and harvesting of scrap computer parts for metal. Business executives say that China’s backbone in intermediate industries, including rare-earth processing, allows it to draw in related businesses that depend on the products and thereby deepening its importance to production supply chains from computers to automobiles.