August 9 -- Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Rare-Earth Group Hi-Tech (600111.SH) recorded a 458.5 percent year-on-year surge in first half 2011 net profit to 1.98 billion yuan, reports China Business News, citing a company filing.

Sale revenue rose 156.8 percent year-on-year to 5.98 billion yuan.

The company attributed the increased earnings to industry reorganization and supportive government policies which helped to increase research and innovation in the rare earth industry and which raised the industry concentration ratio.

The rapid increase in downstream demand for rare earth led to rare earth prices rising to record highs several times.

The price of cerium oxide, one of the company's major products, surged from 8,000 yuan per ton from a year ago to 170,000 yuan per ton at present.

According to Wang Zhongshan, vice director-general of the Nanjing Rare Earth Application Research Center, rare earth prices had started to fall since mid July as the downstream sectors could not absorb the high prices.