Tungsten prices surge to record levels nearly 900% over 12 months
The price of tungsten has gone vertical with gains over the past year outpacing those gold and oil. The Rotterdam ammonium paratungstate (the benchmark intermediate product for tungsten) trades at US$3,185 per metric tonne unit, up to 350% up this year and 900% over the past 12 months (as in April 2026).
The price spike reflects a supply squeeze as demand for tungsten across the West ramps up — just as China, which controls about 80% of global mine production and tungsten products, tightens exports.
The value of the global tungsten market is about US$18 billion in 2026, but this is no longer a niche pricing move in an obscure industrial metal. It is a supply-chain stress test of a metal now at the centre of global geopolitics and national security.
Tungsten is known as one of the strongest-known naturally-occurring materials and is critical across modern technology, from smart phones to hypersonic missiles.
It is listed as a critical mineral in the US, EU, China, UK, Australia, Japan and others, for good reason:
- military: with the highest melting point of any metal and almost as hard as diamond, tungsten is essential across a range of military applications, including armour-piercing munitions, tank armour, and missiles
- technology: tungsten is crucial in the efficiency and durability of solar panels , semiconductors, robotics, and potentially even for the walls of nuclear fusion reactors due to its capacity to withstand extreme heat and radiation
- electric vehicles: electric vehicles require approx. 2kg of tungsten for gearing systems, battery anodes and cathodes, as well as about 2,000 wiring looms in the vehicle’s semiconductors
- tungsten is also used in mining equipment, energy production, construction, and aerospace.
