Tungsten price trend

Tungsten under market pressure – current developments and price reality

Tungsten is one of the most critical industrial metals worldwide. Its physical properties make it indispensable for hardmetals, powder metallurgy, toolmaking, mechanical engineering as well as safety-critical applications. At the same time, the market is structurally tight and increasingly volatile.

Global supply is highly concentrated. A large share of mining and further processing takes place in only a few regions. As a result, the market reacts very sensitively to political decisions, production adjustments and fluctuations in demand.

Why the tungsten price is currently rising sharply

The current price increases are not a short-term market anomaly, but the result of several factors acting at the same time.

Supply tightening
Production curtailments, stricter environmental requirements and regulatory interventions have noticeably reduced the available supply. At the same time, less material is reaching the open market, especially for intermediates such as APT and tungsten carbide powders.

Low market liquidity
The tungsten market is comparatively small. Even moderate changes on the supply or demand side can trigger significant price movements within a short period of time. This also explains the sometimes sharp price jumps within just a few days or weeks.

Structurally rising demand
Demand is growing not only in one single sector, but across several industries:
Tool and mechanical engineering, automotive industry, energy, electronics, semiconductor manufacturing as well as security- and defense-related applications are continuously increasing their requirements. This broad demand meets a supply that can only be expanded to a limited extent.

Strategic stockpiling
Companies and government actors are responding to the tight supply situation by building inventories and entering into long-term supply commitments. This further tightens the spot market and increases price pressure.

Role of geopolitics and the security industry

Geopolitical tensions and rising defense budgets influence the tungsten market, but they are not the sole trigger of the current price trend. Tungsten is indispensable in many security-related applications, yet the price increase is driven primarily by supply restrictions, market structure and broad-based industrial demand.

The decisive point is not the war itself, but the increasing classification of tungsten as a strategic raw material whose availability must be secured.

Impact on powder suppliers and industrial buyers

The market for tungsten-containing powders and hardmetals is particularly affected. High quality requirements, tight particle-size specifications and process-specific compositions cannot be substituted at short notice.

For market participants, this means:

• longer lead times

• less flexibility when adjusting volumes

• rising costs along the entire value chain

• increased importance of planning, inventory management and partnerships

Price negotiations have increasingly shifted from short-term deals to strategic discussions about security of supply.

Outlook

In the short term, a relaxation of the market is not to be expected. The structural conditions point to continued volatility and a permanently higher price level. The decisive factor will be how flexibly supply chains can be designed and how early market participants respond to changes.

Molytun perspective

At Molytun, we do not view tungsten in isolation as a material, but in the context of the overall market. Our focus is on realistic assessments of availability, quality and price trends, as well as on long-term, robust solutions for industrial applications.

Tungsten is not a commodity. Anyone working with it today needs market understanding, planning reliability and dependable partnerships.