Overview of the First Quarter of 2024 Tungsten Market Trends in China

Details: Category: Tungsten's News; Published on Monday, 01 April 2024 16:50

Analysis of latest tungsten market from Chinatungsten Online

In the first quarter of 2024, the tungsten market in China continued to maintain a steady and robust trend. Signals supporting the market came mainly from the supply side, while demand showed lukewarm performance.

The upward movement in tungsten product prices was primarily initiated by the mining end, with intermediate smelting products and downstream alloy products following suit due to cost considerations. Market transactions were cautious and demand-driven.

In January and February 2024, the tungsten market experienced considerable disruption due to the Chinese New Year holiday. Prior to the holiday, smelters reduced production for maintenance, and post-holiday resumption of mining resources was relatively slow. As a result, overall resource supply in the market remained relatively tight, primarily supporting stable market conditions.

In March, the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference convened, announcing the first batch of annual extraction control indicators and launching law enforcement work for mineral rights in 2024. This strengthened market expectations of tightening supply, temporarily alleviating the negative impact of persistently weak demand. As a result, tungsten raw material prices showed a firm trend, leading to passive upward adjustments in the prices of hard alloy products. Opinions among industry players regarding future consumption trends remain divided. Overall, traditional consumption is cooling down, while policy-driven initiatives are active, and exploration of new types of consumption continues. There are significant uncertainties in the international situation.

Prices of tungsten products on April 1, 2024

China tungsten price image