Tungsten prices hit 12-year high as China tightens export controls

https://www.mining.com/tungsten-prices-hit-12-year-high-as-china-tightens-export-controls/

European tungsten prices have surged to their highest level since 2013, driven by China’s tightening grip on critical mineral exports.

The price of ammonium paratungstate (APT)—a key intermediate used in tungsten metal production—has climbed to $400 per metric ton unit (mtu) on the European spot market, marking an 18% jump since February, according to Reuters.

Source: Reuters

The price spike follows a series of Chinese export curbs and quota reductions on key strategic metals, including tungsten, tellurium, molybdenum, bismuth and indium. These measures, imposed in retaliation to US tariffs earlier this year, have exacerbated global supply concerns.

China dominates global tungsten production, accounting for over 80% of last year’s total output of 81,000 tons, according to the USGS.

With the highest melting point of any element, the metal it is extremely hard, dense, and exhibits excellent electrical and thermal conductivity. Once used to light homes through incandescent bulbs, it now underpins essential industries from aerospace and semiconductors to defense and drilling.

Tungsten carbide, for example, is second only to diamond in hardness and plays a vital role in metalworking tools and industrial drills. Tungsten crucibles enable the melting of other high-temperature materials. Meanwhile, the military relies on the metal for “penetrators”—armor-piercing projectiles now in high demand amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.

“People are looking for alternative sources, but they are not so easy to find because of natural scarcity of the metal,” a minor metal trader told Reuters.

China restrictions

This scarcity is worsening. China’s first tungsten ore mining quota for 2024 was set at 58,000 tons—a 6.5% decrease from the previous year.

“Since the Chinese export ban was announced there has been an over-reliance on scrap supplies, but now those are running thin, and there’s growing panic over the inability to secure new primary tungsten material,” said Oliver Friesen, CEO of Guardian Metal Resources.

The stakes are particularly high for the United States, which ceased commercial tungsten mining in 2015 and remains heavily reliant on imports.

A looming 2027 deadline mandates the US military to eliminate purchases of tungsten mined or processed in China or Russia, the latter being the world’s third-largest producer.

“Tungsten is a small market… But the industries that depend on it are exponentially bigger, which is why it is on everyone’s critical mineral list,” Reuters columnist Andy Home noted.