RASTATT, Germany, June 4 (Reuters) - Mercedes-Benz

is talking to its top suppliers about building rare

earth stockpiles even though the carmaker has not seen any

impact from a shortage that has caused some suppliers to shut

down plants and production lines.

"We have learnt a lot from the semiconductor situation

in the automotive industry and are constantly ... looking at

what risk portfolio we still have in the supply chain," Joerg

Burzer, Mercedes-Benz's board member in charge of production

said.

"We are of course in constant dialogue with our

suppliers and of course we also discuss with them what the best

tool is for risk management and the topic of physical buffers

naturally plays a role here," he told journalists at a

roundtable.

Earlier on Wednesday, Europe's auto supplier association

CLEPA said several plants and production lines had been shut

down due to a shortage of rare earths caused by China imposing

restrictions on exports, warning of further outages to come.

Burzer said that while Mercedes-Benz was currently not

affected by the shortage it was closely monitoring the situation

and in constant dialogue with its tier 1, tier 2 and tier 3

suppliers to mitigate the situation.