Hey traders and commodity fans! 🚨 Hold onto your seats—we’ve got a metal that’s outperforming gold by a mile! Tungsten, often overshadowed, has exploded 557% in a year—and it’s not showing any signs of slowing down. Let’s break down why this “war metal” is the hottest commodity you’re not talking about!
$Tungsten Corp PLC(TGTNF)$ $TUNGSTEN WEST PLC(TUN.UK)$ $TUNGSTEN MINING NL(TGN.AU)$
If there’s one commodity that’s delivered the most stunning performance over the past year, it’s neither gold nor copper—but a little-known industrial metal few have heard of: tungsten. This critical metal, primarily used in weapons and defense manufacturing, has quietly become one of the best-performing commodities globally in the past 12 months.
According to Fastmarkets data cited by Almonty Industries, the price of ammonium paratungstate (APT, the main tungsten benchmark) in Europe has surged to approximately $2,250 per metric ton. Since China implemented export controls on certain tungsten products last year, the metal’s price has jumped a staggering 557%—far outpacing gains in gold, copper, and other major markets.
The Direct Trigger: A Global Supply Chain Earthquake
The skyrocketing price of Chinese tungsten stems from a seismic shift in global supply chains. As a move in global geopolitical game，Beijing included specific tungsten products on its export control list amid trade tensions with the U.S. This policy quickly rippled through global markets: data shows China’s exports of restricted tungsten products plummeted by an estimated 40% last year.
With China dominating global tungsten supply, this supply crunch rapidly turned into a buying frenzy. The U.S. Geological Survey reports that China produced a massive 79% of the world’s 85,000 tons of tungsten mined last year and holds the world’s largest tungsten reserves. When the globe’s top supplier turns off the tap, Western manufacturers are left scrambling to snap up any available inventory.
BMO Capital Markets analyst George Heppel described the current market in rare terms:
“In my 12 years in commodities, covering all sorts of exotic metals, I’ve never seen a market as tight as tungsten is right now—except for lithium in 2021.”
But unlike lithium, where a flood of projects could quickly ramp up supply, tungsten has no large-scale projects ready to fill the gap in the short term.
“It’s not like lithium, where there were a bunch of projects that could come online fast,” Heppel added. This means the supply crunch could be far more persistent than expected.
Why Tungsten Matters: The “Vitamin” of Modern Defense
Tungsten’s unique properties—extreme hardness, high density, and heat resistance—make it indispensable to modern defense industries. It’s a critical material for armor-piercing ammunition, aerospace components, semiconductors, and heavy industrial cutting tools. As geopolitical tensions escalate and military spending rises globally, these uses have become even more vital.
Almonty Industries CEO Lewis Black said:
“The industry is starving for the material.”
He revealed that U.S. authorities contacted the company last month about the immediate availability of tungsten supplies—a clear sign of the demand urgency.
The West’s Push to Break Free: Supply Wars Heats Up
Tungsten’s wild ride highlights Western governments’ growing anxiety over overreliance on China for critical minerals. Project Blue estimates the global tungsten market will be worth about $16 billion this year—just 5% of the copper market. Despite its small size, its strategic importance is priceless.
To overcome supply chain risks, governments and manufacturers are hunting for alternative sources worldwide. Some legacy tungsten mines are being revived. For example, Almonty Industries recently restarted production at South Korea’s Sangdong tungsten mine—one of the world’s largest historical tungsten deposits, back in operation after over three decades of inactivity. If its expansion is completed in 2027, it could meet 40% of global tungsten demand outside China.
But despite these efforts, the tight market is unlikely to ease anytime soon. Analysts note that tungsten is not traded on major exchanges, leading to low market transparency and poor liquidity—amplifying price volatility.
Lewis Black believes the sharp price rally is a result of depleted inventories and China’s export curbs finally letting tungsten prices return to true supply-demand dynamics (after years of artificial suppression via Chinese subsidies).
“We’ve never had a market-determined price before, so we really don’t know where it will stabilize.”
The Bottom Line
As long as geopolitical tensions persist, tungsten—dubbed the “war metal”—will remain a key pawn on the global chessboard. Its price and supply flows will continue to affect the sensitive nerves of major powers worldwide.
This is a commodity story you won’t want to miss—stay tuned for more updates!
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