Tungsten Prices Soar, Smelting Sector Under Pressure

Analysis of Latest Tungsten Market from Chinatungsten Online

▏Prices of major tungsten products

Tungsten prices soared this week, breaking new heights every day. As of press time,

65% wolframite concentrate is quoted at RMB 181,000/ton, up 2.6% week-on-week and 26.6% from the beginning of the year.

65% scheelite concentrate is quoted at RMB 180,000/ton, up 2.6% week-on-week and 26.8% from the beginning of the year.

Ammonium paratungstate (APT) is quoted at RMB 265,000/ton, up 3.5% week-on-week and 25.6% from the beginning of the year.

Tungsten powder is quoted at RMB 395/kg, up 2.6% week-on-week and 25.0% from the beginning of the year.

Tungsten carbide powder is quoted at RMB 385/kg, up 2.4% week-on-week and 23.8% from the beginning of the year.

70 ferrotungsten is quoted at RMB 266,000/ton, up 1.1% week-on-week and 23.7% from the beginning of the year.

The price of scrap tungsten rods is RMB 282/kg, up 6.8% week-on-week and 28.2% from the beginning of the year.

The price of European APT is USD 460-485/mtu (equivalent to RMB 292,000-308,000/ton), up 2.2% week-on-week and 43.2% from the beginning of the year.

The price of European ferrotungsten is USD 52.5-53.5/kg W (equivalent to RMB 264,000-269,000/ton), up 3.3% week-on-week and 20.5% from the beginning of the year.

▏ Current situation of tungsten industry chain

The tungsten ore market remains strong due to the scarcity of resources. The demand in the downstream deep processing field is weak, the new orders of enterprises are generally reduced, the procurement strategy turns to caution, and the inventory level of raw materials and finished products is strictly controlled, which forms resistance to cost transmission. The intermediate smelting link is under double pressure from upstream and downstream, and faces severe cost inversion risks. Due to the increased attention paid to secondary resources, the bullish mentality of tungsten scrap market holders has increased, exacerbating the tight circulation of scrap.

Yesterday (July 17, 2025), the 2025 Annual Meeting of the Smelting Branch of the China Tungsten Industry Association was successfully held in Xiamen. The delegates pointed out that the price of tungsten products has fluctuated upward and hit new highs since the beginning of this year, but the profit margin of the tungsten smelting link has not increased significantly, and is still at a relatively low level in the entire tungsten industry chain, and is significantly lower than the average profit margin of the non-ferrous metal smelting industry. At present, smelting companies continue to bear the double squeeze of rising upstream raw material costs and weak downstream demand. In view of the imbalance in profit distribution in the domestic tungsten industry chain and the widening APT price gap at home and abroad, China Tungsten Online believes that as an indispensable key intermediate link in the tungsten industry chain, tungsten smelting companies will find it difficult to accept the further compression of their profit margins in the foreseeable future, and lack the willingness to actively reduce product prices. Therefore, driven by the stable support of tungsten ore raw material costs, market cost pressure will gradually be transmitted to the downstream of the industry chain.

Prices of Tungsten Products on July 18, 2025

Tungsten Price Trend from January to July 18, 2025

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