China’s Ferro Tungsten Price Stabilizes on Quiet Market

Analysis of latest tungsten market from Chinatungsten Online

The ferro tungsten and tungsten carbide powder prices in the Chinese market remain stable on May 24, 2023 as the market is in a stalemate with poor liquidity. 

In the tungsten concentrate market, although environmental protection, high temperature and rainy weather are still beneficial to the restriction of raw material output, the recent market transactions are mainly based on rigid demand, and the downstream terminal demand is not expected to be clear, which affects the confidence of some traders. In the short term, the tungsten ore market is dominated by strong rised mentality, and some profit-taking mentality cannot be ruled out. The market has a price but no sales. 

In the APT market, the recent long-term contract prices show that merchants have a strong willingness to stabilize the market. Although buyers are less proactive, macro-environment shocks and concerns about demand recovery have reduced market risk appetite, traders remain cautious in buying and selling. However, due to the low levels of raw materials are hard to find, smelters are not willing to give up profits under the impact of cost. Therefore, the short-term on-site sales are expected to continue to be cautiously consolidated, and participants will wait and see changes in downstream trading mentality.

In the tungsten powder market, the upstream raw material side basically continues to maintain a high-level consolidation mentality, and the downstream cemented carbide sales has not increased significantly. The contradiction in the fundamentals of the tungsten powder market has not yet been alleviated, and the overall new orders are limited. Given that, the short-term market is expected to adjust according to the raw material market.

In terms of news, CITIC Securities predicts that China’s tungsten supply and demand gap will reach -2594/-2642/-2449 tons from 2023 to 2025. With the continued supply and demand gap, tungsten prices are expected to strengthen in the long term. It is mainly due to the increase in the penetration rate of photovoltaic tungsten wire, the optimization of cemented carbide and product structure, and the superimposition of domestic substitution to drive the steady growth of tungsten demand. The supply is facing multiple constraints such as the control of total mining volume and the decline in ore grade, and the release of output is slow. However, we must also be alert to risk factors such as the recession of domestic and foreign demand caused by macroeconomic fluctuations, technological iterations of competing products in traditional fields, or the substitution effect caused by rising tungsten prices.

Prices of tungsten products on May 25, 2023

Picture of tungsten trioxide 

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