Tungsten: Characteristics
The metal with the highest melting point of all
What this tab covers The supply and physical characteristics of the commodity. Supply: current production, inventories and stocks, capacity utilisation, geographic and producer concentration, how fast supply responds to price, the project pipeline and capital spending, and logistics and export flows. Material: the physical and chemical properties that set its grade, price and end uses (for example purity and conductivity for metals, API gravity, sulfur and energy content for fuels, moisture, protein and fibre quality for crops).Supply volume characteristics
| Characteristic | Figure | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current production volume | about 85,000 t W (2025e), up from 82,000 t | China mined 67,000 t, Vietnam 3,000 t and Kazakhstan 2,400 t from the new Boguty mine. China is also the largest importer and consumer of concentrate. | USGS MCS 2026 |
| Inventory and stock levels | US industry stocks withheld; US stockpile planned to buy 2,041 t of tungsten and offered 499 t of ores for disposal (FY2025) | China's state reserve bureau is known to hold APT and concentrate (indicative). No exchange stocks exist. Western buyers rebuilt stocks after China's February 2025 export controls. | USGS MCS 2026; Chinese state stock indicative |
| Capacity utilisation | not published | No global figure in the sources used. China sets annual mining quotas, which cap output regardless of capacity. Masan's Nui Phao refinery in Vietnam recovers about 96% in APT processing. | USGS MCS 2026; Masan 2025 via content_v2 |
| Geographic and producer concentration | China 77.9%, top-3 87.6% (China, Vietnam, North Korea), HHI 6,146 (2024) | Chinese firms Xiamen Tungsten, China Tungsten High-Tech (Minmetals) and CMOC lead; Masan, Almonty and H.C. Starck are the main non-Chinese processors. | World Mining Data 2026; content_v2 |
| Supply elasticity | low: about 10 years from discovery to mine; Chinese quotas limit short-run response | Prices doubled in 2025 (Rotterdam APT $331 to $675 per mtu) yet mine output rose only about 4%. Recycling of carbide scrap responds faster. | USGS MCS 2026; lead time indicative |
| Project pipeline and CapEx | Sangdong (Korea, commissioned March 2026), Boguty (Kazakhstan, 2025); DPA-funded projects in Nevada, New Brunswick and Yukon | A Kazakhstan-US joint venture to develop tungsten resources was announced in October 2025. Capacities and CapEx were not found in the sources used. | USGS MCS 2026; content_v2 |
| Logistics and export flows | ore and concentrate exports $174 million (2023); Spain 23.1%, Rwanda 18.8%, Bolivia 18.3% | Most Chinese ore is processed at home, so seaborne ore trade is small. China (35.7%), the US (32.3%) and Vietnam (24.9%) led imports. China's February 2025 export controls on tungsten items are the main chokepoint. | UN Comtrade 2023 (HS 2611); USGS MCS 2026 |
Material characteristics Metal / hard commodity
Tungsten has the highest melting point of any metal and, as tungsten carbide, is one of the hardest engineering materials. Those two facts drive its use in cutting tools, drill bits, wear parts, heavy alloys and filaments. It is traded as concentrate and ammonium paratungstate (APT), priced per metric ton unit of WO3.
| Property | Value / specification | Why it matters | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Concentrate and APT grade | concentrate about 65% WO3; APT at least 88.5% WO3 (indicative); 1 mtu = 10 kg WO3 = 7.93 kg W | Prices are set per mtu, so grade directly sets value; impurities such as arsenic, tin and molybdenum are penalised | USGS MCS 2026; APT spec indicative |
| Melting point | 3,422 C, highest of all metals | Suits lamp filaments, welding electrodes, furnace parts and fusion reactor walls | CRC Handbook (standard value) |
| Hardness | WC about 2,200-2,600 HV; cemented carbide (WC-Co) about 1,300-2,000 HV (indicative) | Lets cutting inserts, drill buttons and dies outlast steel tools many times over; carbides take about three quarters of tungsten use | ASM Handbook (indicative); EU CRM 2023 |
| Density | 19.3 g/cm3 (pure W); heavy alloys 90-97% W at 17-18.5 g/cm3 | Gives counterweights, radiation shields and kinetic penetrators high mass in little volume | CRC Handbook; ASTM B777 |
| Stiffness and tensile strength | elastic modulus about 411 GPa; wire tensile strength can exceed 3,000 MPa (indicative) | Fine tungsten wire is used for filaments and diamond-wire saws that cut solar silicon wafers | CRC Handbook; indicative |
| Electrical and thermal conductivity | about 31% IACS; about 173 W/m K | Good conductivity at high temperature suits electrical contacts and semiconductor interconnects | CRC Handbook (standard values) |