PARIS, May 5 (Reuters) – France has called an online meeting of G7 countries for Thursday to discuss how to break China’s stranglehold on critical materials, Finance Minister Roland Lescure said, announcing plans to rebuild the industry in France.
The online meeting with relevant ministers is intended to prepare for a mid-June summit of the G7 leaders in the French spa town of Evian, Lescure told reporters. He was speaking in Lacq, a town in southwestern France that is being primed to be the centre of the country’s rare-earth processing activities.
Lescure said China had captured a huge share of the market through heavy investment and pricing policies that drove potential competitors out.
“One of the projects we have in mind within the G7 is to ensure – much as the International Energy Agency was created in the 1970s when OPEC held a production monopoly – that we develop alternatives through international cooperation,” Lescure said.
France’s strategy, which intends to underpin the country’s position in those talks, aims to rebuild a domestic rare earths and permanent magnets supply chain, curbing dependence on China for materials critical to electric vehicles, wind turbines, electronics and defence.
The plan targets the entire value chain, from securing overseas mineral supplies to refining, alloy production and magnet manufacturing in France.
By 2030, France aims to produce rare earth oxides covering 100% of European demand for heavy rare earths and about a quarter of demand for light rare earths, as well as alloys meeting around 10% of European needs.
To boost supply security, the state will loosen access to guarantees for strategic projects, extend and simplify tax credits for green industrial investment until 2028, and channel additional funding through an existing long-term investment programme and a dedicated metals fund.
The government also plans to approach international traders about securing critical minerals, potentially offering a French state project finance guarantee.
(Reporting by Leigh Thomas; Additional reporting by Inti Landauro and Gus Trompiz; Editing by Makini Brice and Susan Fenton)
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