China Commodity Marketplace
This week, the domestic tungsten market remained flat, with stable long-term contract prices from large producers. Domestic tungsten concentrate holders were reluctant to sell at low prices, seeing concentrate prices holding firm during the week. Heavy rainfall in Hunan and Hubei interrupted mining operations and contracted production. Miners tended to quote high on shortening spot tungsten supply, seeing mainstream wolframite (65% WO3) prices climb to RMB80,000~82,000/t, shcheelite (65% WO3) prices at RMB79,000~81,000/t and tungsten concentrates (50~55% WO3) at RMb77,000~79,000/t.
The domestic APT market appeared stable with mainstream quotations at RMB122,000~124,000/t. With production costs over prices and scarcity of low-cost tungsten concentrates, domestic APT smelters declined to quote low with some tuning up their quotations. Furthermore, with a second round of environmental inspections underway in five cities including Ganzhou – a major APT producing region in Jiangxi, domestic APT supply is expected to drop over the short-term. As a result, limited low-price APT will be available on the market.
