China’s COVID-19 Response Affects the Liquidity of the Cemented Carbide Market

Analysis of latest tungsten market from Chinatungsten Online

The ammonium metatungstate (APT) and tungsten powder prices keep strong at the beginning of the week when the whole market remains cautious under complex and challenging circumstances. 

At present, the global situation is complicated and volatile due to factors such as the epidemic, geopolitical conflicts and extreme weather events. Market financial risks are prominent, and logistics capacity is also relatively tight. The cost and demand pressure faced by the tungsten industry is difficult to improve in the short term, negative and positive factors are intertwined.

In the tungsten concentrate market, environmental supervision supports the product costs. In addition, the value attribute of strategic resources is more prominent under the background of geo-risk. Recently, the sentiment of stockholders has been strong, and low-level resources are hard to find in the market. However, the repeated outbreak of the epidemic has affected the recovery of back-end demand, superimposed local conflicts, and shaken the expectation of stable economic growth, the consumer side is more cautious in entering the market.

In the APT market, a series of sanctions caused by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine intensified the inflationary pressure in the market, and the cost pressure on the energy and chemical raw and auxiliary materials is still high. The profit margin of the factory is also relatively limited.

In the tungsten powder market, the cost supports prices standing above $45.2/kg, but the downstream terminal replenishment sentiment is relatively cautious. Recently, China’s COVID-19 response in Hebei, Shanghai and other places has a certain negative impact on the liquidity of the recycled powder and cemented carbide market. Meanwhile, the implementation of the price increase of alloy products has certain pressure on the actual order transaction.

On the macro side, in the first quarter, the CRB commodity index increased by 27.03%, the largest quarterly increase since 1994; the domestic commodity index increased by 16.18%, according to the China Securities Journal. In the current round of rising commodity prices, the oil, non-ferrous metals and grain sectors rose prominently. The analysis predicts that commodity prices such as energy, chemical and agricultural products will remain strong.

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has severely impacted the grain, vegetable and oil markets, causing global food prices to hit a new record high in March after February. The average food price index in March was 159.3, the highest value since the index was established in 1990, up 12.6% month-on-month and 33.6% year-on-year, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. 

Prices of tungsten products on April 12, 2022

Picture of tungsten trioxide 

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