China's Ministry of Commerce on Friday set its first batch of rare-earth export quotas for 2014 at 15,110 metric tons.

The volume is a 2.5% decline from the same batch last year.

The quota includes 13,314 tons of light rare earth and 1,796 tons of medium-and-heavy rare earth, the ministry said in a statement on its website.

The government generally issues the rare-earth quota in two batches a year. The first batch usually accounts for about half the full-year quota.