A group of Chinese metal industry experts have announced that they believe that the world’s supply of rare earth metals and minerals will likely outstrip demand in around half a decade’s time, thus ending the reliance on Chinese exports and potentially harming the country’s economy.

Wang Hongquain, general manager of China Nonferrous Metal Industry’s Foreign Engineering and Construction Company (NFC), believes that more nations with rare-earth deposits will resume exploration for such minerals, leading to a wider spread of suppliers in addition to the increased amounts of available rare metals.

China itself produced 118,900 tons of rare-earths last year, more than 30% higher than its planned quota. However Chen Zhandeng, director of the academic department of the Chinese Society of Rare Earths, predicted that the country’s export quota will drop to 30,000 tons in 2011, a 5,000 ton drop from 2010.

China still controls more than a third of the world’s rare metal deposits, however country’s like Australia and the USA have yet to unfreeze exploration on their own deposits.