Tungsten Market Update — March 25, 2026: High-Level Consolidation, Tight Supply–Demand, and Volatile Scrap Sentiment

Tungsten prices remain in a high-level consolidation after a multi-fold rally, with tight physical balances and split bullish–bearish expectations keeping most participants sidelined. The scrap segment is showing visible anxiety and uneven quotations — we summarise Chinatungsten Online data and what it means for carbide tool procurement.

Tungsten prices are trading in a high-level consolidation range, supported by a tight balance between physical supply and demand but weighed down by divergent expectations among mills, traders, and end users. After a prolonged rally that lifted several benchmarks several-fold from early-year levels, the market is effectively a tug-of-war: bulls point to concentrate tightness and downstream restocking needs, while bears cite thin spot liquidity and fatigue after such a steep run-up. With the next directional move still unclear, overall spot activity remains sluggish and many desks are operating in a wait-and-see mode.

The tungsten scrap complex — where capital turns over quickly, retail and small-lot participants carry outsized influence, and market conventions are less standardised than in primary concentrates or finished powders — tends to swing faster on sentiment and profit-taking. Compared with raw tungsten materials and downstream tungsten products, scrap often shows sharper emotional swings and a stronger bias toward locking in gains after sharp moves. Recently, that dynamic has been visible as anxiety in scrap quotations has become palpable and price indications more fragmented from one counter to the next.

Market Overview: Consolidation, Sentiment, and the Scrap Divergence

Primary chain pricing — from 65% wolframite and scheelite concentrates through APT and tungsten metal powders — continues to reflect the structural tightness that has defined most of 2026. European benchmarks for APT and ferrotungsten remain at wide premiums to domestic China quotes in dollar terms, underscoring how regional arbitrage and freight differentials are shaping global liquidity. In parallel, cobalt powder, while relevant for cemented carbide grades that use cobalt binder, is moving on a much milder slope than tungsten, reinforcing that tungsten remains the dominant cost driver for solid carbide tooling inputs.

Against that backdrop, scrap tungsten rods and drill-bit scrap are the segments where short-term noise is loudest: financing pressure, uneven scrap availability, and heterogeneous lot quality can all distort week-to-week prints. That is why it is essential to read scrap moves together with primary concentrate and powder pricing — not in isolation — when judging whether the market is turning or simply pausing within a broad uptrend.

Tungsten Price Table — March 25, 2026

Figures below are as reported by Chinatungsten Online at press time, March 25, 2026. RMB figures are domestic China indications unless noted; European quotes are converted where a USD range is given.

Note on scrap: week-on-week indicators for scrap grades can be distorted by small lot sizes and heterogeneous material. The rod and drill-bit scrap levels above should be read as directional references alongside the primary concentrate and powder benchmarks, not as standalone signals of a bearish reversal in the broader tungsten complex.

What This Means for Solid Carbide Tool Buyers

Tungsten carbide (WC) powder at RMB 2,320/kg — up more than 120% year-to-date — remains the dominant input in the cost structure of cemented carbide drills and end mills. APT and concentrate quotes at similar YTD gains confirm that the inflation is chain-wide, not limited to one processing stage. European APT up roughly 188% YTD in dollar terms is a stark reminder that global consumers of tungsten-bearing products are competing for the same tight raw material pool.

• Primary materials (concentrates, APT, metal and WC powder) are still printing at historically elevated levels; consolidation here is not the same as a bear market.
• Scrap volatility is a sentiment and liquidity story layered on top of physical tightness — use it to understand short-term trading noise, not to infer a collapse in primary pricing.
• Cobalt’s modest +11.5% YTD move means tungsten, not cobalt, remains the first variable to hedge when negotiating carbide tool prices.
• European benchmarks trading at large premia to China domestic numbers highlight arbitrage and regional supply risk — importers should expect continued volatility in landed cost.
• If spot trading feels “quiet,” that often reflects uncertainty after a sharp rally rather than weak underlying demand — a classic late-stage consolidation pattern.

Procurement Recommendation

Bundle volumes where possible, shorten quote validity windows when WC powder is moving quickly, and prioritise suppliers who publish prices tied to transparent raw material references. Direct factory relationships reduce the double margin that distributors add precisely when powder costs are spiking — which is the environment we are in today.

Outlook

Near-term direction will likely be decided by whether physical tightness in concentrates and APT can outweigh the caution that sets in after a multi-fold rally. Scrap-market noise may continue in the short run, but primary chain pricing is the signal to watch for cemented carbide tool costs. Any renewed restocking wave in downstream cemented carbide or hardmetal could tighten powder availability further.

We publish regular tungsten and carbide raw material updates sourced from leading Chinese price reporters and our own supply-chain visibility. Watch this space for the next weekly snapshot — and contact our team if you need a firm quote aligned to today’s WC powder level.