Two weeks ago we sent a newsletter to all Troutline customers explaining why the price of tungsten has increased so dramatically. For those who are not subscribed or may have missed that message, I decided to share the same information here on the blog, as we continue to receive many questions about these prices.
First of all, no — Troutline is not speculating on these prices and we are not taking advantage of the situation. This is a global market development. Since the spring of last year, the price of tungsten raw materials has increased dramatically , in some cases, for several raw compounds, by several hundred percent (800%). Below you can see a price chart from the Chinese metal market showing this steady increase. As you can see, the price has not really dropped during this period and the trend still appears to be upward.
The reasons are quite clear. Around 80% of the world’s tungsten is produced and processed in China, which makes the country the dominant supplier of this strategic metal. Tungsten is widely used in several industries, including aerospace, electronics and defense.
At the same time, the current global geopolitical situation has also increased demand for strategic materials. With ongoing conflicts in Eastern Europe (Ukrainian situation) and Middle Orient (Iran situation), the demand for tungsten used in military and high-tech applications has increased significantly.
In addition, producing high-purity tungsten beads requires a complex sintering process that consumes a large amount of energy. With rising energy costs and tighter supply of raw materials, the final price of tungsten products has inevitably increased.
Unfortunately, this is not something controlled by retailers and is very probably that the price will go up with 40% from this moment till June. What we can all hope for is that global tensions ease and supply conditions stabilize again in the future.
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