Western tungsten prices trade at nearly four times China's

Rotterdam ammonium paratungstate traded at $278.22 a kilogram in October against $74.43 ex-works in China, a 3.74 times gap, according to a MetalMiner report cited by Mining.com.

Why it matters: The split prices export controls and processing capacity, not a single world market, so Western defence and tooling buyers face a separate cost base for traceable tungsten from January, when new US defence sourcing rules take effect.

Data as of Mining.com, November 4, 2026, read in full in this run, reporting a MetalMiner study using data through October 2026, with US data through August. Single report of a single study, so graded C. Developing item.

Ammonium paratungstate in Rotterdam traded at $278.22 a kilogram in October, against $74.43 a kilogram ex-works in China, according to a MetalMiner report cited by Mining.com. The 3.74 times multiple averaged 1.24 times from September 2021 to June 2025 and broke out only in April 2026; between March and September 2026, monthly average China prices fell 58 percent while Rotterdam prices rose 39 percent.

MetalMiner attributed the split to China’s February 2025 export licensing, which restricted tungsten exports, and to US measures that include tariffs raised to 16.2 percent in December 2025, an August 2026 scrap allocation order, and defence procurement restrictions taking effect on January 1, 2027. The report said the Western constraint is conversion capacity rather than scrap supply, so scrap can accumulate unless US processing capacity grows.

Western tungsten prices trade at nearly four times China's

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