China Tungsten Prices Slump Another 15% in a Week as APT Breaks Below CNY 470,000 a Tonne

Market Pulse Scope's China tungsten complex extended its slide this week. Scheelite concentrate fell 15.05% over the seven-day window to CNY 306,666.67 a tonne and wolframite concentrate fell 15.01% to CNY 307,666.67 a tonne, with ammonium paratungstate down 14.63% to CNY 466,666.67 a tonne. China Tungsten Online put 65% wolframite at CNY 315,000 a standard tonne and 65% scheelite at CNY 314,000 on 14 October, both roughly 70% below their peaks, and reported on 16 October that 55% concentrate had broken below the CNY 300,000 mark with October losses now running above 20%.

The driver is destocking rather than a supply response. Shanghai Metals Market recorded 65% wolframite at CNY 337,000 a standard tonne on 12 October, down 67.92% from the CNY 1.05m record set on 12 March 2026, with APT around CNY 500,000 a tonne and tungsten powder at CNY 805 a kilogram. SMM attributes the move to maintenance shutdowns at some smelters that left raw-material inventories high, ample fourth-quarter mining quotas, and holders needing to free up cash. China Tungsten Online describes the same loop: forced selling by traders meeting margin calls, buyers holding back for lower prints, and smelters running reduced loads because margins are inverted.

Downstream demand has not absorbed the liquidation. Carbide and powder producers are buying only against firm orders, and China Tungsten Online reports tungsten powder and tungsten carbide powder offers testing below CNY 700,000 a tonne with very thin liquidity. SMM flags three things to watch: whether lower prices trigger restocking, how fourth-quarter cemented carbide orders land in what is normally a modest seasonal peak, and whether the widening gap to export markets pulls Chinese material offshore.

That gap is now the defining feature of the market. Fastmarkets assessed tungsten APT 88.5% WO3 cif Rotterdam and Baltimore duty-free at $2,700-2,900 per mtu WO3 on 2 October, unchanged on the week and about 355% above the $580-615 per mtu of 3 October 2025, while its ddp China assessment was CNY 540,000-560,000 a tonne on 30 September, down 4.35% on the week and 9.83% since the assessment launched on 5 August. China Tungsten Online puts European APT at $2,500-2,900 per mtu, down 14.0% from its peak but still up 193.5% since the start of January. Chinese material is therefore becoming sharply more competitive abroad, and SMM expects fourth-quarter export activity, including pre-Christmas stockpiling by overseas consumers, to be one of the channels that absorbs domestic inventory.