BEIJING: Unusually large quantities of antimony – a metal used in batteries, chips and flame retardants – have poured into the US from Thailand and Mexico since China barred US shipments last year, according to customs and shipping records, which show at least one Chinese-owned company is involved in the trade. China dominates the supply of antimony as well as gallium and germanium, used in telecommunications, semiconductors and military technology. Beijing banned exports of these minerals to the US on Dec 3 following Washington’s crackdown on China’s chip sector.
The resulting shift in trade flows underscores the scramble for critical minerals and China’s struggle to enforce its curbs as it vies with the US for economic, military and technological supremacy.
Specifically, trade data illustrate a re-routing of US shipments via third countries – an issue Chinese officials have acknowledged.
Three industry experts corroborated that assessment, including two executives at two US companies who told Reuters they had obtained restricted minerals from China in recent months.
The US imported 3,834 metric tons of antimony oxides from Thailand and Mexico between December and April, US customs data show. That was more than almost the previous three years combined. Thailand and Mexico, meanwhile, shot into the top three export markets for Chinese antimony this year, according to Chinese customs data through May. Neither made the top 10 in 2023, the last full year before Beijing restricted exports. Thailand and Mexico each have a single antimony smelter, according to consultancy RFC Ambrian, and the latter’s only reopened in April. Neither country mines meaningful quantities of the metal.
US imports of antimony, gallium and germanium this year are on track to equal or exceed levels before the ban, albeit at higher prices.
Ram Ben Tzion, co-founder and CEO of digital shipment-vetting platform Publican, said that while there was clear evidence of transshipment, trade data didn’t enable the identification of companies involved.
“It’s a pattern that we’re seeing and that pattern is consistent,” he told Reuters. Chinese companies, he added, were “super creative in bypassing regulations.”
China’s Commerce Ministry said in May that unspecified overseas entities had “colluded with domestic lawbreakers” to evade its export restrictions, and that stopping such activity was essential to national security. It didn’t respond to Reuters questions about the shift in trade flows since December.
The US Commerce Department, Thailand’s commerce ministry and Mexico’s economy ministry didn’t respond to similar questions.
US law doesn’t bar American buyers from purchasing Chinese-origin antimony, gallium or germanium. Chinese firms can ship the minerals to countries other than the US if they have a licence.
Levi Parker, CEO and founder of US– based Gallant Metals, told Reuters how he obtains about 200kg of gallium a month from China, without identifying the parties involved due to the potential repercussions.
First, buying agents in China obtain material from producers. Then, a shipping company routes the packages, re-labelled variously as iron, zinc or art supplies, via another Asian country, he said.
The workarounds aren’t perfect, nor cheap, Parker said. He said he would like to import 500kg regularly but big shipments risked drawing scrutiny, and Chinese logistics firms were “very careful” because of the risks.
Thai Unipet Industries, a Thailand-based subsidiary of Chinese antimony producer Youngsun Chemicals, has been doing brisk trade with the US in recent months, previously unreported shipping records reviewed by Reuters show.
