German foreign minister: China willing to prioritise European supply bottlenecks

Dec 8 (Reuters) - German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on Monday that China had signalled it would give priority to addressing minerals supply shortages among European manufacturers in a dispute over rare earths export restrictions.

The minister, who is on a two-day trip in China, spoke at a press conference following talks in Beijing.

Wadephul earlier on Monday said that a lot was still to be done to persuade Beijing to grant rare earth export licences to German manufacturers, signalling that they had not received any from the first batch issued.