Tungsten (wolfram, W) is used in various industrial and hi-tech applications, including cemented carbides, steel alloys and super alloys, mill products, and chemicals. The scarcity of effective tungsten substitutes is instrumental in improving tungsten economic viability, but does not guarantee particular attractiveness of investing into W-related projects due to their often limited scope.
Tungsten: structure of the global consumption by product
The development of the global tungsten market mirrors national GDP trajectories, which is common for technologically advanced products with specialized applications. The robust growth of the world tungsten market in recent years will be more modest, which is caused by the troubled recovery of the European economy, crises in several developing countries, and ongoing economic slowdown in China (the largest tungsten market with 1.9 mln tonnes in tungsten reserves, c. 80 percent of global mine tungsten production and 50 percent of global tungsten demand).
Some experts even predict tough times for the tungsten manufacturers due to the subdued demand from the downstream industries and oversupply. Oversupply, or more likely improved tungsten availability, is highly probable as there is no shortage of new tungsten projects (e.g. Hemerdon Ball Project and O’Callaghans Project in Australia; Mactung Project and Northern Dancer Project in Canada).
In this uncertain situation, the influence of any external or internal factor, no matter how insignificant it may seem from the start, can be decisive in changing tungsten market development scenarios. Such events as amendments in regulatory policies (like the recent move of the Chinese government to levy a price-based tungsten resource tax at 6.5 percent following China’s export tax removal), the opening of new application segments or further achievements of the tungsten-processing industry (tungsten stays among the most highly recycled commodity metals) may act as triggers of important changes on the tungsten market. However, despite possible hardships, the prospects of the global tungsten market look quite positive, and the market will grow at 3 percent per annum by 2018.
More information on the tungsten market can be found in the insightful research report “Tungsten: 2015 World Market Review and Forecast”.