High Price of Cobalt Powder Brings Challenges to Tungsten Alloy Enterprises

Details: Category: Tungsten's News; Published on Monday, 21 March 2022 18:04

Analysis of latest tungsten market from Chinatungsten Online

China’s domestic tungsten price remains firm and stable in the week ended on Friday, March 18, 2022 as raw material manufacturers’ confidence was shored up by the ferro tungsten and alloy markets affected by the concerns about the tight resource supply and the increased cost of smelting auxiliary materials under conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

However, the impact of overseas tensions to the domestic market is limited. Although the financial market has reacted violently, the fundamentals of supply and demand in the tungsten industry have not changed significantly. The market trading is still deadlocked, and the room for price adjustment is relatively limited.

The price of tungsten concentrate stands at about $19,032.3/ton with low liquidity in the market. Due to the low-carbon requirements and the global inflationary pressure, the production cost of mining enterprises is expected to be high in the future. Demand for strategic resource reserves is also expected to increase in global local conflicts.

The APT price is tentatively rose above $329.9/mtu due to the significant cost pressure of smelting enterprises. Affected by the shortage of energy, the high cost of raw ore, labor, and prices, the release of market resources is relatively limited. At the same time, overseas geopolitical conflicts have affected the performance of funds relatively in general. In the short term, the market tends to be stabilized.

Tungsten powder price stabilizes at $44.8/kg when inquiries in the downstream cemented carbide and its products have recovered during the week, mainly due to the release of cyclical stocking demand. But the overall sentiment on the consumer side is still cautious. The tightening of overseas supply may lead to the transfer of some demand to the country, the repeated epidemic and the pressure of port freight may also dampen the enthusiasm of downstream terminal consumption. In addition, the high price of cobalt powder also brings challenges to the operation of tungsten alloy enterprises.

Prices of tungsten products on March 21, 2022

China’s domestic tungsten price image