Tungsten: Trading

Rotterdam and Chinese APT prices set the deals

What this tab covers How and where it is bought and sold: who buys and sells, exchanges and benchmarks, contract types, the big trading houses and how prices are discovered.

Tungsten has no major futures market. Prices are set in negotiated contracts that reference assessments by price-reporting agencies such as Argus and Fastmarkets. Key assessments are concentrate and APT in Rotterdam, and domestic Chinese APT. Prices are quoted per metric ton unit (mtu) of tungsten trioxide, which contains 7.93 kg of tungsten. Producers often sell concentrate on long-term offtakes to a few converters, so spot markets are thin. Chinese state policy, through export controls and quotas, has a large effect on the price.

Where it is bought (buyers)

Chinese APT plants buy domestic and imported concentrate; China took 35.7% of world ore imports in 2023
US (32.3%) and Vietnamese (24.9%) converters also import concentrate (UN Comtrade 2023)
Carbide makers such as Sandvik, Kennametal, H.C. Starck and Japanese toolmakers buy APT, oxide and powder

Where it is sold (sellers)

Chinese producers sell APT, oxide and carbide
Spain (23.1%), Rwanda (18.8%), Bolivia (18.3%), Portugal and Australia exported most concentrate traded in 2023 (UN Comtrade)
Masan sells APT and oxides from Vietnam

Exchanges and benchmarks

Venue	Contract	Notes
No exchange-traded futures	Concentrate and APT trade bilaterally	Fastmarkets launched a China domestic APT price assessment in August 2026

Contract types

Concentrate and APT contracts priced per metric ton unit (mtu) of WO3 against Fastmarkets or Argus averages
Long-term offtakes for new mines with Western carbide makers
Chinese producers' periodic long-term contract offers

Top trading houses

Specialist minor-metals traders; no dominant trading house is named in the sources used

How prices are discovered

Argus Tungsten Analytics (source of USGS prices)
Fastmarkets APT Rotterdam and China assessments
Asian Metal Chinese prices