Brussels, 28/01/2011 (Agence Europe) - The EU is keeping a close eye on developments on the global rare earth market and is determined to secure its supply from China and alternative sources, a “geostrategic issue of major importance”, said Karel De Gucht, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum of Davos on Thursday 27 January. Speaking to the press, the European trade commissioner however declined to say whether the European executive would turn to the WTO over the dossier of Chinese restrictions on exports of rare earth, a group of 17 minerals which are vital for the production of high-tech products varying from flatscreen TVs and mobile telephones to lasers and hybrid cars, and of which China holds 35% of known accessible reserves and 97% of the global market. De Gucht, who raised the issue with the Chinese authorities at the EU-China economic and commercial dialogue session in December last year in Beijing, explained that the EU was seeking a two-pronged solution: on the one hand, to ensure that China has not set in place any restrictions on its supply to the EU, but has respected acceptable export quotas; on the other, to ensure that China has not imposed export duty on the minerals in such a way as to create dual display of prices, giving Chinese producers an advantage over foreign users of these minerals. The European Commission does not wish to threaten Beijing with retaliatory measures to protest against its reduced exports of these minerals. Although an initial version of its future strategy on raw materials responded to the concerns of European industry with the threat of retaliatory customs measures, this option was sidelined in a more recent version of the document. (E.H./transl.fl)