Mitsui Mining & Smelting to Raise Cerium Oxide Abrasive Price

Mitsui Mining & Smelting announced on Tuesday the firm raises the selling price of cerium oxide based abrasive by 120 yen per kilogram for shipment on and after 1 October, 2007. Cerium oxide based abrasive is used for polishing of glasses and lenses. The firm decided the hike in order to keep the steady supply when material cost is increasing especially for rare earth compound.China, the world largest supplier of rare earth compound, recently strengthens the regulations on its rare earth export including an abolition of export duty refund, a new taxation on rare earths and a minimization of export license volume. Rare earth compound price is in uptrend with concerns for less supply from China. Mitsui Mining & Smelting became unable to absorb increasing material costs by its cost cut efforts.Mitsui Mining & Smelting supplies cerium oxide based abrasive mainly for precise polishing of glass substrates for liquid crystal displays and hard disks, lenses and other optical parts. The demand is expected to continue increasing for the usages applied to main parts of high-end electronic appliances and optical equipment.