Behind the 470% Surge in Tungsten Prices: A Value Reassessment from “Industrial Teeth” to “Bargaining Chip in Great Power Games”
Recently, the dramatic upheavals in the global geopolitical landscape and profound changes in the industrial cycle have jointly fueled a “perfect storm” in the non-ferrous metals market.
Among them, minor metals, represented by tungsten, have performed particularly well, experiencing a price and capital market “frenzy.”
As of the end of February 2026, the price of tungsten powder had exceeded 1800 yuan/kg, an increase of over 470% compared to approximately 315 yuan/kg at the beginning of 2025.
This surge is not accidental, but rather the result of a deep resonance of three factors: supply, demand, and strategic value.
The rigid contraction on the supply side is the cornerstone of the price surge.
As the core supplier of global tungsten resources (accounting for 52% of global reserves and 83% of production), China implements strict total volume control on tungsten mining.
The first batch of total volume control indicators for tungsten concentrate mining in 2025 decreased by 6.5% year-on-year, and the indicators for 2026 continue to be tight. The continued tightening of environmental and safety regulations has led to the closure of numerous small and medium-sized mines, resulting in a systemic tightening of the tungsten concentrate supply in the market.
Furthermore, declining grades and rising mining costs of high-quality tungsten ore globally, coupled with slow release of new overseas production capacity, have collectively created a robust supply barrier.
A structural surge in demand has provided sustained upward momentum.
Tungsten, often referred to as the “teeth of industry,” is seeing its demand shift from traditional sectors to high-end manufacturing.
In the new energy sector, photovoltaic heterojunction cell technology has driven a rapid increase in the penetration rate of tungsten wire diamond wire to over 80%, becoming a new growth engine for demand.
In the technology and military sectors, the demand for high-purity, high-performance tungsten materials from AI servers, semiconductors (especially 3nm and below advanced process chips), aerospace, and defense industries is experiencing explosive growth, with extremely low price sensitivity.
This signifies that the demand logic for tungsten has shifted from being driven by the traditional industrial cycle to a structural growth driven by the dual engines of “new energy + intelligentization.”
A revaluation of its strategic value has injected a “premium of the times.”
Against the backdrop of escalating global geopolitical competition and supply chain restructuring, the strategic attributes of key minerals such as tungsten are receiving unprecedented attention from the market.
