THE government lifted its annual rare earth output quotas Friday by 10 percent to record-high levels for 2019, easing fears the world’s dominant producer of the group of 17 prized minerals will restrict supply.

China is home to at least 85 percent of global rare earth processing capacity, according to Adamas Intelligence.

The full-year rare earth mining quota has been set at 132,000 tons for 2019 and the smelting and separation quota at 127,000 tons, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said in a statement.

The quotas, up from 120,000 tons and 115,000 tons, respectively, in 2018, are the “highest volume ever allocated,” said David Merriman, a London-based manager at commodity research firm Roskill.

China has now increased the allowances for two years in a row and an official at the Association of China Rare Earth Industry confirmed the numbers were record highs.

They imply a quota of 72,000 tons for mining in the second half of 2019, up more than 54 percent from an unusually low level a year earlier.

For smelting and separation, or the processing of ore into material manufacturers can use, the second-half quota is 69,500 tons.

The quota hikes could be seen as a message that China has “the capability to increase supply, Roskill’s Merriman said.

China typically issues the rare earth quotas twice a year for six-month periods. In March, the first-half quotas were set at 60,000 tons for mining and 57,500 tons for smelting and separation.

China’s rare earth exports in October rose by 1.9 percent from the previous month to 3,639 tons, according to customs data released earlier Friday.(SD-Agencies)