China's outbound shipments of rare earths in May jumped 23% on the month to their highest in a year, though Beijing's export curbs on some of the critical minerals halted some overseas sales, with shortages rippling through global manufacturing.

Beijing has approved more export licenses for the critical minerals and magnets in recent days, but supplies remain scarce and factories in the West are running out.

China has approved temporary export licenses to rare-earth suppliers of the top US automakers, Reuters reported on Friday, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter.