Regarding the significant price differences and uneven pricing among various tungsten products observed in the May market, Chinatungsten Online, after conducting extensive research, believes the fundamental reason lies in the different roles of market players at different stages, leading to divergent expectations and subjective judgments regarding the future market. Furthermore, although order prices for some products have risen, the recovery in market demand for others is insufficient to support a coordinated increase in the overall price system of the industry chain.
The prices of different categories, and even the same type of tungsten products, at different times and with different trading partners are substantially affected by complex trading conditions in reality, such as (1) different requirements for product quality, especially purity and particle size distribution, (2) different payment methods and credit terms for cash and acceptance, (3) order size such as quantity and type of purchase, such as multi-category and small quantity orders versus single-category and large quantity orders, (4) customer cooperation history, upstream and downstream cooperation relationships and their pricing methods such as long-term contract prices and single contract prices, (5) packaging and storage requirements, delivery methods and location differences, (6) uncertain costs and contingent risks involving the end users and places of use of dual-use products, etc. In addition, we have also found in recent years that (7) the behavior of tungsten products spot and related stock secondary market is even increasingly affected by location such as Hunan and Hebei, personal preferences such as whether or not one is a "shareholder" of a company, (8) whether an individual has joined certain WeChat groups and which Douyin anchors they follow will affect their market judgment and purchasing behavior. Given the combined effect of these factors, (9) the differences among market participants in terms of information access, individual perception, risk preference, order holdings, and financial status further amplified price dispersion.
According to data from Chinatungsten Online, in May 2026, the Chinese tungsten market experienced a round of accelerated bottoming-out adjustments. Prices of major tungsten raw materials basically fell back to the levels at the beginning of the year or the end of 2025, a drop of about 60% from the historical peak in mid-March, with a cumulative decline of over 40% within the month. (Tungsten Prices Plunge Over 40% in May 2026)
