The commerce ministry denial came after The New York Times, citing unnamed industry sources, reported China had halted all shipments of the elements to Japan.

Rare earths are essential for making iPods, electric cars, missiles and a range of other products.

"There is no such matter," Chen Rongkai, an official at the commerce ministry, told AFP.

"I don't know where they got this. Everything is going on as normal."

China supplies at least 95 percent of the world's rare earths. It had previously placed restrictions on exports of the minerals, sending market prices soaring and sparking concern among foreign governments and companies.

If exports were being halted, it was probably because China had already reached the lowered annual limit, an industry source, who asked to remain anonymous, told AFP.

Japan's foreign ministry did not answer calls for comment on the report.

An unnamed Japanese government official was quoted on Japan's Jiji Press agency as saying: "We have not been informed by the Chinese side that they have banned the exports."

Japan and China are embroiled in their worst diplomatic row in years, sparked by the fishing boat captain's arrest after a September 7 collision between his trawler with two Japanese coastguard vessels in the East China Sea.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao this week threatened "further actions" if the captain was not released. Beijing has already suspended high-level contacts with Tokyo and called off several official visits.

Last month, before the row erupted, Japan had urged China to expand rare earths exports.

Market prices of some types of rare earth metals have soared more than 20 percent since China announced in July that it planned to reduce global shipments.

Previous media reports said the country was considering banning the export of certain elements and closing mines, which foreign companies and governments fear will deny them access to the much-needed metals and force manufacturers to shift their plants to China.

earlier related report
China warns Japan of tourism fall-out over ship row
Tokyo (AFP) Sept 23, 2010 - A Chinese official on Thursday blamed Japan for the escalating row over a detained Chinese trawler captain and warned it could affect tourism.

A two-day meeting on tourism ended in the ancient Japanese city of Nara with top officials from the 21 members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) reaffirming the importance of tourism in economic growth.

But Zhang Xilong, the deputy director general of the China National Tourism Administration, told a closing joint news conference that Japan was solely responsible for "very serious problems" between the neighbours, according to Kyodo news agency.

"If this issue is not properly handled and the mistakes not corrected, I'm afraid it will have an even more serious impact on tourism between China and Japan and even to some extent on tourism relations in APEC," he said.

Beijing has strongly demanded Tokyo release the captain immediately and unconditionally since he was arrested following a collision in the East China Sea earlier this month near Japan-held disputed islands known as Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese.

The Chinese captain is accused of intentionally ramming his trawler against Japanese coastguard ships in the disputed waters.

Last week, a Chinese firm cancelled a planned corporate holiday to Japan with some 10,000 people.

Although China has suspended high-level official exchanges with Japan, it sent a delegation to the APEC tourism meeting as planned.

But chief Chinese delegate Zhu Shangzhong, vice chairman of the tourism administration, skipped a reception hosted late Wednesday by Japanese tourism minister Sumio Mabuchi at short notice.

Mabuchi also refused to meet Zhu, who had planned to make a courtesy call on him, although they had brief exchanges during a tea break on Wednesday.

In a joint declaration, the APEC tourism officials said they recognised "the economic importance of tourism, including the creation of jobs, reduction of poverty and conservation of the environment."

Mabuchi told the news conference that the members "shared the understanding that tourism was recognised as part of the growth strategy."

The declaration will be used as a basis for discussion at the annual summit of APEC leaders, to be held in Yokohama in November.

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