{"id":1049,"date":"2025-12-31T04:09:20","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T04:09:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/2025\/12\/31\/china-to-restrict-silver-exports-echoing-rare-earths-playbook\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T04:09:21","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T04:09:21","slug":"china-to-restrict-silver-exports-echoing-rare-earths-playbook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/2025\/12\/31\/china-to-restrict-silver-exports-echoing-rare-earths-playbook\/","title":{"rendered":"China to restrict silver exports, echoing rare earths playbook"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Introduction to China&#8217;s Silver Export Controls<\/h2>\n<p>Silver bars are stacked in the safe deposit boxes room of the Pro Aurum gold house in Munich, Germany, January 10, 2025. <\/p>\n<p>Angelika Warmuth | Reuters<\/p>\n<p>BEIJING \u2014 China is set to tighten controls on silver exports from Thursday, expanding restrictions on the once-ordinary metal critical to the U.S. industry and defense supply chains.<br \/>\n<span class=\"QuoteInBody-quoteNameContainer\" data-test=\"QuoteInBody\" id=\"RegularArticle-QuoteInBody-1\">Silver<\/span> is a crucial component in various industrial processes, including electrical circuits, batteries, solar cells, and anti-bacterial medical instruments.<\/p>\n<h2>Impact on the US Industry and Defense Supply Chains<\/h2>\n<p>Tesla CEO Elon Musk criticized the move over the weekend on his social media platform X, responding to a post about the upcoming restrictions.<br \/>\n&#8220;This is not good. Silver is needed in many industrial processes,&#8221; Musk wrote.<br \/>\nThe rules are not new, as China&#8217;s Commerce Ministry first announced the new measures in October to strengthen oversight of rare metals.<br \/>\nAt the time, Beijing agreed to a one-year pause on certain rare earth export controls, while the U.S. rolled back tariffs.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this month, China released a list of 44 companies approved to export silver under the new measures in 2026 and 2027.<br \/>\nThe new rules in 2026 also restrict exports of tungsten and antimony, materials dominated by China&#8217;s supply chain and widely used in defense and advanced technologies.<br \/>\nStock Chart Icon<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static-redesign.cnbcfm.com\/dist\/a54b41835a8b60db28c2.svg\" class=\"Collapsible-dismissButton\" alt=\"hide content\"\/><br \/>\n<iframe title=\" \" src=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/appchart?symbol=XAG%3D&#038;range=1Y&#038;type=mountain&#038;embedded=true&#038;$DEVICE$=undefined\" height=\"460\" scrolling=\"no\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border:0;width:100%\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>China&#8217;s Leverage Over Rare Earths and Silver<\/h2>\n<p>While China hasn&#8217;t explicitly announced a blanket ban on silver exports, the state-run Securities Times on Tuesday cited an unnamed industry insider, who said the new policy formally elevates the metal from an ordinary commodity to a strategic material.<br \/>\nThis places its export controls on the same regulatory footing as rare earths.<br \/>\nThe EU Chamber of Commerce in China found in a flash survey of members in November that a majority of respondents have been or expect to be affected by those Chinese export controls.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. added silver to its nationally designated list of critical minerals in November, citing its use in electrical circuits, batteries, solar cells, and anti-bacterial medical instruments.<br \/>\nA separate U.S. analysis said China was one of the world&#8217;s largest producers of silver in 2024, and also home to one of the largest reserves.<br \/>\nChina exported more than 4,600 tons of silver in the first 11 months of the year, far more than the roughly 220 tons of imports during that time, according to Wind Information, citing official figures.<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"InlineVideo-videoThumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/image.cnbcfm.com\/api\/v1\/image\/108245019-17664535171766453513-43121552983-1080pnbcnews.jpg?v=1766453516&#038;w=750&#038;h=422&#038;vtcrop=y\" alt=\"Beijing's leverage over rare earth underpins a certain level of stability between U.S. and China\"\/><br \/>\n<span class=\"InlineVideo-videoButton\"\/><\/p>\n<h2>Silver Prices and Market Trends<\/h2>\n<p>The restrictions on silver come just as interest in the metal has increased in recent weeks.<br \/>\nTwo Chinese companies contacted Canada-based Kuya Silver on Friday, offering to buy physical silver at about $8 more than the market price at the time, CEO David Stein confirmed to CNBC.<br \/>\nAn Indian buyer approached Kuya on Monday with an offer $10 above the market price, he added.<br \/>\nConservative digital media outlet The Free Press ran a column Tuesday by George Mason University economics professor Tyler Cowen, who said the surge in silver and gold prices reflects investors shifting away from the U.S. dollar.<\/p>\n<p>He called the surge in prices &#8220;a flashing warning for the [U.S.] economy.&#8221;<br \/>\nThe U.S. dollar index has fallen by nearly 9.5% in 2025, its worst performance since 2017.<br \/>\nIn contrast, silver has more than doubled in price, on track for its best year since 1979 when the metal surged by nearly 470%.<br \/>\nSilver prices retreated on Wednesday after touching a record peak above $80 an ounce at the start of the week, with spot prices last trading at $73.<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/fm.cnbc.com\/applications\/cnbc.com\/resources\/styles\/skin\/special-reports\/the-china-connection\/tcc_widget_logo_2026.png\" width=\"278\" height=\"auto\"\/><br \/>\nWeekly analysis and insights from Asia&#8217;s largest economy in your inbox<br \/>\nSubscribe now<\/p>\n<h2>Gold and Bitcoin Prices<\/h2>\n<p>Gold has gained more than 60% so far this year and is also on pace for its best year since 1979.<br \/>\nBitcoin, sometimes promoted as an alternative to gold as a store of value, was trading near $88,000 Wednesday morning Beijing time, down by more than 5% for the year.<br \/>\n\u2014 CNBC&#8217;s Chris Hayes contributed to this report.<br \/>\nFor more information, visit <a href=https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2025\/12\/31\/china-silver-export-controls-2026-us-economy-prices-rare-earths-critical-minerals-xag-metals.html >Here<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Smart Tip for Readers<\/h2>\n<p>When considering investments in precious metals like silver, it&#8217;s essential to stay informed about global market trends, geopolitical developments, and regulatory changes that can impact prices and availability. Always consult credible sources and experts before making investment decisions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Introduction to China&#8217;s Silver Export Controls Silver bars are stacked in the safe deposit boxes room of the Pro Aurum gold house in Munich, Germany, January 10, 2025. Angelika Warmuth | Reuters BEIJING \u2014 China is set to tighten controls on silver exports from Thursday, expanding restrictions on the once-ordinary metal critical to the U.S. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1050,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/image.cnbcfm.com\/api\/v1\/image\/108202789-17586402512025-01-10t134231z_250656088_rc2x6cas6qkq_rtrmadp_0_germany-gold.jpeg?v=1758640292&w=1920&h=1080","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1049","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-finance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1049"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1049\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1051,"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1049\/revisions\/1051"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}