The Philippines has emerged as one of the world’s biggest buyers of rare-earth permanent magnets, capturing a 6.6-percent share of global imports in 2024 as demand for critical minerals accelerates amid the global shift toward clean energy technologies.
The country ranks sixth worldwide in rare-earth permanent magnet imports, according to the latest Global Trade Update of the UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The report highlighted the growing importance of these materials in industries linked to renewable energy, electric vehicles, and advanced manufacturing.
The European Union, Japan and the United States remained the largest importers, collectively accounting for 55 percent of global rare-earth permanent magnet imports last year. They were followed by Mexico with a 7.3-percent share and the Republic of Korea with 6.7 percent, based on UNCTAD calculations using data from UN Comtrade.
Essential components
Rare-earth magnets are considered essential components in high-performance technologies, including electric vehicle motors, wind turbine generators, and defense systems.
UNCTAD said demand for critical energy transition minerals (CETMs), which include rare earth elements, lithium, graphite, cobalt, nickel, and copper, is expected to rise sharply as countries expand clean energy infrastructure.
The International Energy Agency projects strong growth in CETM demand between 2024 and 2040, with lithium and graphite expected to record the fastest increases. Clean technologies are also expected to account for a larger portion of mineral demand during the period.
“Clean technologies are expected to take a much larger share of total demand. Between 2024 and 2040, the clean technologies share of nickel demand is projected to increase from 17 percent to 42 percent, and of magnet rare earth elements from 21 percent to 31 percent,” UNCTAD said.