Analyzing the Economic Development of Tungsten in China

At present, our tungsten boat is an irreplaceable basic material and strategic resource for the national economy and modern national defense. Molybdenum boat manufacturers remind us that the hard alloy made of tungsten boat has ultra-high hardness and excellent wear resistance, which is used to manufacture various cutting tools, drilling tools, and wear-resistant parts. It is known as the "teeth of industry". Tungsten boats are mainly used in the steel industry, Most of them are directly used for steelmaking or cast iron after being crushed with industrial alumina, and a small portion is melted into aluminum iron before being used for steelmaking steel products. (Tungsten Boat)

From the data, it can be seen that the global tungsten resource reserves are about 4.67 million tons, scattered across China, Canada, Russia, and the United States, with these four countries accounting for about 84%; China has abundant tungsten boat resources, accounting for about 60% of the world's proven tungsten mineral reserves, ranking first in the world. China's tungsten ore resources are very abundant, with many types of deposits. However, the industry order is disordered, product quality is low, and homogenization is severe. Despite years of mining sequence management and rectification, China's tungsten mining industry still faces severe problems of excessive excavation.

From the perspective of consumption sources, in the domestic tungsten metal consumption market in 2021, the proportion of raw tungsten consumption exceeded 80%, while the proportion of waste tungsten consumption was less than 20%. However, from the perspective of consumption growth rate, driven by the increasingly severe trend of decreasing tungsten ore reserves worldwide and the difficulty of replacing tungsten metals, the consumption of waste tungsten has rapidly increased. In 2021, the growth rate of waste tungsten consumption in China exceeded the growth rate of original tungsten by 2 percentage points. From the perspective of segmented consumer sectors, the tungsten metal consumption in the hard alloy industry accounted for nearly 60% in 2021, followed by tungsten special steel and tungsten materials, both accounting for over 10% of the consumption.

Based on the abundant reserves and production of tungsten, China has become a major exporter of tungsten products worldwide. The export volume of tungsten products in China maintained growth from 2015 to 2018. Since 2019, due to trade frictions and the impact of the epidemic, the export volume of tungsten products in China has significantly decreased. In 2021, with the global economic recovery and an increase in overseas order demand, China's tungsten export situation has significantly improved, with an export volume of 24000 tons, a year-on-year increase of over 60%. From January to April 2022, China's tungsten exports increased by 20% year-on-year.

Overall, the supply of tungsten concentrate is difficult to increase significantly under indicator control, and with the recovery of the manufacturing industry, the demand for tungsten concentrate will increase, and the supply of tungsten concentrate is expected to be tight. The supply and demand balance of tungsten concentrate in 2021 has become a shortage of -3313 tons, and it is expected that the gap will change from 4780 tons to 4036 tons from 2022 to 2025.