#74 W

Tungsten Price

Strategic Metal Export Licence

Highest melting point of all metals; used in cutting tools and armor.

Main trade forms: Powder / APT
Available from: CN, VN, RU, AT

Last update: 2026-03-15
4 records

Retail Reference

$45/kg

Powder 99.9% (3N) · 1 kg

Edgetech Industries · CN · 2026-03-15

Bulk Benchmark

No commodity benchmark available

Export Licence Chinese export licence required for Tungsten in all controlled forms. Regulatory Tracker →

Tungsten was added to China’s export-control list under MOFCOM/GAC Announcement No. 10/2025 (effective 4 February 2025), alongside Te, Bi, Mo and In [2]. The control covers tungsten metal, ferrotungsten, ammonium paratungstate (APT), tungsten carbide powder, and a range of tungsten compounds.

The October 2025 escalation announcements expanded the scope further; suspension Announcements Nos. 70 and 72/2025 [3] roll back the October additions until 28 November 2026, but the No. 10/2025 baseline licensing requirement remains fully in force.

Applications

Application	Role	Significance
Cemented carbide tooling	WC–Co cutting inserts, drill bits, mining tools	~60% of W demand. Indispensable for metal machining, mining, and oil & gas drilling. No economic substitute.
Kinetic energy penetrators	W heavy-alloy long-rod penetrators (replacing depleted uranium)	Defence-critical: NATO transition from DU to W penetrators makes Sabot rounds reliant on Chinese APT supply
Superalloys & high-speed steel	W in nickel- and cobalt-based superalloys	Jet-engine turbine components; tool steels for high-temperature machining
Electrical contacts & filaments	W and W-alloy contacts, electrodes, filaments	X-ray tube targets, TIG welding electrodes, EDM electrodes
Radiation shielding	W-Cu and W-Ni-Fe heavy alloys	Replaces lead in medical and industrial radiation shielding (collimators, syringe shields)

Market & Supply

Global mine production ~81,000 t W content/year [4]

China mining share ~83%

China APT/refining share ~88%

Other producers Vietnam, Russia, Bolivia, Austria

Export control MOFCOM No. 10/2025 [2]

APT benchmark (FOB China) ~$340–$420/mtu

Carbide retail (1 kg) $80–$160/kg

Pure W metal retail $120–$700/kg

Verified Offers

Tungsten metal is widely sold as turnings, rod, and cube novelty items at the retail end; the bulk benchmark is the APT mtu (metric ton unit) traded FOB China. The auto-rendered table shows tracked retail listings.

Date	Form	Purity	USD/kg	Seller	Country
2026-03-15	Powder	99.9% (3N)	$58	Stanford Advanced Materials	US
2026-03-15	Powder	99.9% (3N)	$45	Edgetech Industries	CN
2026-03-15	Powder	99.9% (3N)	$50	ALB Materials	CN
2026-03-15	Powder	99.9% (3N)	$72	American Elements	US

Important Notes

Export controls in force MOFCOM No. 10/2025 [2] requires Chinese export licences for W metal, APT, ferrotungsten, carbide powder, and major W compounds. Western buyers should expect 30–60 day licence approval delays and increased scrutiny on military end-users.

Defence supply chain exposure NATO transitioned from depleted-uranium to tungsten kinetic-energy penetrators in the 2000s. The result is structural dependence on Chinese APT for ammunition production. Western tungsten reshoring (Almonty Industries Sangdong, S. Korea) is in commissioning but cannot meet demand alone.

Ferrotungsten pricing dislocation Since the No. 10/2025 controls took effect, European ferrotungsten prices have decoupled from FOB-China APT, with Rotterdam premiums reflecting licensing risk and shipping diversification.

Physical Properties [1]

Z: 74 · A_r: 183.84 u · ρ: 19.25 g/cm³ · T_m: 3,422 °C · T_b: 5,555 °C
Crystal: bcc · Config: [Xe]4f¹⁴5d⁴6s² · Ox. states: -2 to +6

References

Wolfram Alpha, “Tungsten element.” wolframalpha.com.
MOFCOM Announcement No. 10 of 2025, “Export Control of Tungsten, Tellurium, Bismuth, Molybdenum and Indium Related Items,” effective 4 February 2025.
MOFCOM Announcements No. 70 and 72 of 2025 (suspension orders), 7–9 November 2025.
United States Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025: Tungsten, January 2025.