The reduction of export quotas from China, the world’s leading producer of the metal helped the price nearly triple over the course of the year. Recent reports from China have the quotas increasing nearly 10 percent for the first half of 2011. What will be the major stories for the tungsten market in 2011?
China is taking measures to make sure they will be able to supply their domestic tungsten demand; but these measures have a few countries calling foul play.
China’s tungsten market monopoly is often blamed for the metal’s volatility, but in the case of a post-recession rebound, the monopoly appears to be a good thing.
The ferro-tungsten market has been stagnant in recent weeks, with only a handful of transactions taking place. Last Friday, in China, inactivity translated into a dip in prices. Ferro-tungsten fell to $25.90 a kilogram, down from the recent rate of $28.00 per kilogram.
The tungsten market has been quiet for ’09. Ferro-tungsten prices have been slowly creeping up due to short supply, so it is exploration as usual for the tungsten business. Tungsten exploration outside of China is critical, as the country has a monopoly on the metal used for military and aeronautical equipment.
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