By February 2026, a North American manufacturer was rationing a silvery metal used in coatings that shield jet-engine parts from temperatures topping 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

The company operates in the aerospace sector with both civilian and defense applications. Its executives asked Reuters not to identify the company while discussing its production problems publicly.

With its supply of yttrium running low, it began turning away smaller customers to preserve what remained for larger clients, including engine makers.

The shortage had already forced the manufacturer to temporarily pause production. And the coating itself isn’t optional. It wears down with use and must be reapplied.

Without regular recoating, an engine’s turbine metal takes the heat directly, accelerating oxidation and cracking until components fail altogether.

So how did an American aerospace supply chain get this close to running out?

In April 2025, China placed yttrium and six other rare earth elements under export controls. Chinese exporters now needed government licenses to send the material overseas.

In the eight months before those controls took effect, China shipped 333 metric tons of yttrium products to the United States.

Over the next eight months, just 17 tons arrived.

As Chinese shipments collapsed, yttrium prices soared. By February 2026, the metal cost about 69 times what it cost a year earlier.

Your Rundown for Friday, September 25, 2026...

The Jet Engine Kill Switch?

Yttrium is element No. 39 on the periodic table. It occurs alongside rare earths and is generally grouped with them commercially.

American deposits do exist.

The Mountain Pass mine in California produces rare-earth ore containing small amounts of yttrium. Heavy-mineral-sand operations in Florida also produce concentrates containing yttrium-rich minerals.

But getting it out of the ground isn’t the same as producing usable yttrium.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, America has no fully commercial facility capable of separating or refining the metal.

U.S. net import reliance for yttrium is 100%.

Even more telling, nearly all imported yttrium metal and compounds ultimately come from mineral concentrates processed in China.

But after China imposed its export controls in April 2025, no yttrium reached the U.S. for the next six months.

Shipments resumed in October 2025, ahead of a meeting between Presidents Trump and Xi Jinping in Busan, South Korea.

China agreed to postpone additional rare-earth restrictions for a year, but the April 2025 controls on yttrium remained in place.

And exporters had to prove that the material would be used only for civilian purposes.

The White House eventually intervened with Beijing. In March 2026, China shipped 60 metric tons of yttrium oxide to the United States.

The March shipment offered only temporary relief. China sent another 10 tons in April, nothing in May or June and 29 tons in July — a fitful supply for a material the U.S. had imported at roughly 30 tons per month before the controls.

Again, there is no immediate American substitute for yttrium.

That helps explain what aerospace researchers are doing now.

Some American thermal-coating suppliers are exploring alternatives that contain no rare earths for less critical components. Others are looking at recycling leftover coating material.

But none of these approaches eliminates the dependence anytime soon. Aerospace manufacturers are years away from replacing modern rare-earth-based materials or developing enough alternative supply.

In short, one of the world’s most technologically advanced industrial economies still depends on China to turn ore into the material its aerospace industry can actually use.

China can squeeze the supply of materials American manufacturers need. But China has vulnerabilities of its own, particularly its dependence on imported energy.

“If China attempts to exert pressure through its exports of rare earths or advanced materials, the U.S. retains the ability to respond through energy restrictions,” Jim Rickards said in April.

“The United States now holds greater influence over China’s energy access,” he added, especially “through its control of [critical] chokepoints, including Venezuelan supply channels and transit through the Panama Canal.”

China has yttrium leverage. The U.S. has energy leverage.

But caught between the two is the manufacturer we met at the beginning — rationing a metal used to protect jet-engine parts.

Its customers rely on those coatings to keep commercial jets flying safely and military aircraft mission-ready.

When Chinese shipments stop, somebody has to decide which engines get what’s left.

Market Rundown for Friday, Sept. 25, 2026

S&P 500 futures are up 0.20% to 7,785.

Oil’s down 2.15% to $92.55 for a barrel of WTI.

Gold is up 0.85% to $4,334 per ounce.

And Bitcoin’s near $84,400.