A comprehensive evaluation of the international competitiveness of strategic minerals in China, Australia, Russia and India: The case of rare earths

Abstract

Rare earths serve an irreplaceable and vital role in the development of many strategic and prospering high-tech sectors as a key raw ingredient for the creation of high-tech products. The continued rise in global demand for rare earths is putting enormous pressure on the existing rare earth supply chain. The rare earth reserves of China, Australia, Russia and India are among the world's leading countries. To systematically evaluate the competitiveness of these four countries' rare earth industries, this paper uses the projection pursuit method and the improved TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution) model to create a new multidimensional evaluation index to assess the international competitiveness of rare earth resources exported by these countries.The findings revealed that: (1) China is the most competitive in rare earths, Australia is the fastest growing competitive, and Russia and India are less competitive; (2) there are differences in the components of rare earths competitiveness among the four countries: China's economic accumulation and trade are firmly in first place, while Australia's infrastructure is its main driving force to improve its rare earths competitiveness, Russia is more competitive in science and technology innovation, and India lags behind the other three countries in terms of competitiveness in most dimensions. In response to the above findings, this paper put forward corresponding policy recommendations.