The de facto export ban on rare-earth elements – often referred to as “industrial vitamins” – struck a terrible blow to Japanese companies, which rely on China for 97% of their supply. Among a variety of rare-earth elements, neodymium and dysprosium are widely used as a magnetic material for motors in environmentally friendly vehicles and home appliances, while erbium is used as a dopant in optical fibers and cerium as an abrasive for polishing liquid crystal display (LCD) glass.
而中方对稀土元素——人称“工业的维生素”——的实质性禁止出口对日本企业造成了严重冲击，因为这些公司97%的稀土原料都来自中国。在诸多稀土元素中，钕和镝都被广泛运用于环保汽车和家电领域，是制造马达的磁性材料，铒是生产光纤的掺杂物，而铈则是液晶显示器玻璃的抛光粉原料。