latest tungsten price
APT spot price is now slightly below USD 200/mtu. There are really two prices for tungsten. one is the spot price which is currently at levels that are not sustainable by most producers. the other is the off-take price that individual producers have with long-term customers. that is usually some kind of discounted average of the spot price over 6 months or one year. right now should be between USD 300 and 250/mtu.
Why has the spot price dropped so much?
Consumption of tungsten has not dropped, it has actually year by year. But there are two other factors at play: the availability of large excess stock of tungsten, the uncertainty on the recovery of the Chinese manufacturing, which is the largest driver of tungsten consumption.
Spot customers right now prefer to go through their stock before they place new orders. Producers either slow down (some stop) production or just stockpile for later if they can afford, or liquidate their inventories at whatever price they can get if they must. There is also the problem of Fanya (the minor metal exchange) inventory. I believe Fanya stockpiled over 6 months worth of world consumption of APT. Being that investors in Fanya are asking for their money back and acting rather angry, nobody knows whether it will be liquidated or absorbed by the Chinese gov. or some other private entity. This all contributes to "wait and see" spot market, with very low trade volumes and lower prices week by week. However tungsten is being used at normal rates and sooner or later spot customers will run through their stock and will start buying more actively, pushing the price up. when it happens, it will be quick in my opinion.
I try a cut and paste of APT prices here. hope it works.