Tungsten prices have climbed in recent weeks amid a production slowdown in China, the world's top source of this rare element used to make highly durable materials.

Rare earth market quotation: Chinese rare earth price shows a slight rebound with good market atmosphere. Rare Earth Office of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has held a liaison meeting of inter-ministerial coordination mechanism for rare metals recently, and said it will maintain the high-pressure situation of illegal activities of rare earth. The industry crackdown may ease the contradiction between supply and demand in the rare earth market, boosting rare earth plates. Prices of praseodymium and neodymium metal rise greatly. 

Analysis of latest tungsten market in China from Chinatungsten Online: Opening this week, Chinese tungsten market keeps stable on the whole, but supply and demand still refuses to budge. The tax law of environmental protection that will soon be implemented increases manufacturers’ production costs, coupled with strong rised mentality of raw material side, short-term tungsten price will be stable with good momentum.

Spot goods in the molybdenum concentrate market has been maintaining at a low level recently. Starting from December 22, a large mine in Heilongjiang province stopped work to undergo repair for 10 days. The two factors tighten the supply of raw material. However, the demand slowed down due to the downstream pre-stocking in the earlier stage. The price of molybdenum concentrate continues to maintain at high level at RMB 1,460-1,470/t.