Resources / sourcing
Does N42SH Need a Chinese Export Licence?
Why the grade on a drawing can change export timing, and what a buyer should verify before treating production lead time as delivery lead time.
Reference note: Market prices and capacity figures are volatile reference points, not quotations or guarantees of current availability.
The short answer
Yes. In the sourcing case reviewed for August 2026, N42SH contains dysprosium. Since April 2025, China has required a non-automatic export licence for every NdFeB magnet containing dysprosium or terbium. The same licensing requirement applies to all SmCo magnets. That means an N42SH magnet produced in China is not only a manufacturing and quality question; it also has a separate export-control path.
The distinction matters because NdFeB magnets made exclusively with light rare earths — neodymium, praseodymium, lanthanum and cerium — continue to export freely under this specific rule. A standard N42 grade without a high-temperature suffix typically falls into that different sourcing case. “Typically” is important: the grade label alone should not replace a written composition statement from the supplier.
Production time and export time are different
A factory can quote a credible production lead time and still be unable to predict the date on which a controlled magnet will leave China. Licence applications frequently remain unresolved for 60–120 days or longer. There is no statutory review period, so the absence of a rejection is not the same as an approval and does not create a reliable shipping date.
For an OEM buyer, this changes how a quotation should be read. “Four weeks to manufacture” is not necessarily “four weeks to ship.” The RFQ and quotation should separate material availability, manufacturing time, inspection, export-licence status, freight and customs. If these stages are collapsed into one optimistic date, the buyer cannot see which assumption creates the schedule risk.
Why high-temperature grades create the question
The SH suffix communicates a coercivity and temperature-performance requirement. In the N42SH case, dysprosium supports that performance and brings the magnet inside the licensing rule. The engineer may have selected SH because the component operates near a heat source, experiences a demanding duty cycle or requires additional demagnetization resistance.
That technical requirement must not be downgraded merely to avoid an export licence. A sourcing partner can clarify the exposure, identify potential alternative-origin manufacturing options and request comparable documentation, but it cannot approve a different grade. Any change belongs in the buyer’s engineering and qualification process.
Questions to put into the RFQ
First, state the exact grade and the operating-temperature context. Second, ask whether the offered composition contains dysprosium or terbium. Third, identify the country where the magnet will be sintered, machined, coated and magnetized. Fourth, ask whether the supplier’s quotation assumes an export licence and whether one already exists for the relevant product and end use.
The RFQ should also request the drawing, dimensions, tolerances, coating, magnetization direction, prototype quantity, annual volume and target delivery date. These details do not solve licensing, but they prevent suppliers from quoting different technical interpretations. Comparable RFQs make it easier to distinguish a genuinely different supply option from the same controlled source routed through another commercial entity.
What “non-China” should mean
A sales office outside China does not by itself establish non-China origin. The buyer needs to know where the relevant manufacturing steps occur and what evidence will be supplied. The purpose is not to reject China automatically; it is to understand whether the selected technical grade creates a licensing dependency and whether the program needs a qualified alternative.
Cardinal Magnetics structures those questions, researches potential manufacturing sources and organizes the resulting information. The buyer remains responsible for engineering approval, supplier qualification, compliance and the final purchase decision.
Market context
China accounts for approximately 90% of global magnet production. That concentration is why a composition-specific export rule can affect buyers far beyond China. Shipments of yttrium, dysprosium and terbium remain approximately 50% below the period before April 2025, reinforcing the difference between material price, material access and export timing.
The practical conclusion is narrow: if a drawing specifies N42SH, do not evaluate the quote as though it were a standard N42 program. Confirm composition, licensing exposure, manufacturing origin and the separate timing assumptions before comparing delivered dates. Reconfirm those facts when a quotation is revised or its validity period expires.
Record the decision, not only the quote
A durable sourcing file should record why the approved grade was selected, which composition statement was received, where production occurs, whether a licence is required, and which party owns each next step. Keep the supplier’s production estimate separate from export approval and transport. If the supplier proposes a light-rare-earth alternative, record it as a deviation requiring buyer review rather than as an automatic commercial substitution.
The same discipline should be used when an alternative-origin manufacturer is identified. Confirm that its offer matches the drawing and grade, request the origin evidence needed by the buyer, and document any different tooling, inspection or qualification assumptions. Record who verified each document and when it was reviewed. Keep a later supplier update as a new dated record rather than overwriting the basis of the original decision. The objective is not to create paperwork for its own sake. It is to prevent a schedule decision from depending on an unstated composition or an approval date that nobody can reliably predict.
Questions buyers ask
Does N42SH made in China require an export licence?+
In the August 2026 sourcing case, yes: N42SH contains dysprosium, and China requires a non-automatic export licence for NdFeB magnets containing dysprosium or terbium.
Is factory lead time the same as export lead time?+
No. Production can finish while the export licence remains unresolved. The quotation should separate production, licensing, export and freight assumptions.
Can N42 replace N42SH to avoid licensing?+
Only the buyer’s responsible engineering process can approve a grade change. The sourcing comparison can identify the different exposure and document a proposed alternative.
Continue the decision
NdFeB Grades, Temperature Suffixes and Sourcing Risk
A procurement-oriented guide to N35–N52, M/H/SH/UH/EH suffixes and the composition evidence needed before comparing sources.
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