Tungsten market participants raise concern as China tightens export controls on Japan for dual-use items

Following Japan’s political dispute with China over Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae’s November remarks concerning Taiwan, China’s Ministry of Commerce issued a new announcement on Tuesday January 6.

The measure prohibits exports to Japan of dual-use items destined for military end users, for military end uses, or for any other purpose that could enhance Japan’s military capabilities.

Tungsten-related products such as ammonium paratungstate (APT), tungsten oxide and tungsten carbide are included in the controlled list, which is called the 2026 Catalogue of Dual-Use Items and Technologies Subject to Import and Export Licensing Control announced by the Chinese General Administration of Customs (GACC).

According to data from GACC, China’s exports of tungsten APT to Japan from January to November 2025 amounted to approximately 138 tonnes. This accounted for about 56.8% of the country’s total APT exports (243 tonnes) during the same period.

Since China put tungsten export controls in place in February 2025, Chinese tungsten APT exports have entered a license-based phase, which caused a major decline in export volumes. The export volume of tungsten APT fell almost 70% from 782 tonnes in 2024 to 243 tonnes in the first 11 months of 2025, according to data from GACC.

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A producer source told Fastmarkets that they used to do large amounts of business in tungsten APT with Japan before February 2025. However, after the instatement of the export control, “we have been stuck in this weird limbo where nobody’s sure what’s next. But now, with the new rules just released, we’ve decided to hit pause on all APT exports to Japan completely,” the producer said.

Market participants also noted that the Chinese tungsten market does not depend on demand from Japan. The overall scale of China’s tungsten APT demand is in the hundreds of thousands of tonnes. More specifically, according to a producer, annual APT demand in China reaches about 110,000-120,000 tonnes. As the producer put it, “Compared with the domestic market, the 138 tonnes exported to Japan are almost negligible.”

According to data from Japan Customs, imports of tungstates – a broad category of tungsten products that includes tungsten APT – from China reached 669 tonnes in the first 11 months of 2025. This accounted for approximately 55% of Japan’s total import volume, which stood at 1,209 tonnes for the same period. Taiwan and Vietnam were the second- and third-largest sources of tungsten imports into Japan.

A trader source told Fastmarkets, “Even though Chinese tungsten products hold a large share of the Japanese market, alternatives – such as Vietnam – remain available.” He also pointed out that, from Japan’s perspective, China’s newly announced export controls on dual-use items are likely to have a limited effect on the Japanese tungsten market.

“I believe the effect will be more pronounced for rare earths than for tungsten” the trader added.

Latest Fastmarkets tungsten prices

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for tungsten APT 88.5% WO3 min, fob main ports China was $1090-1150 per metric tonne unit (mtu) on Wednesday January 7, up by $35-40 per mtu from $1050-1115 per mtu a week earlier.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for tungsten concentrate 65% WO3, in-whs China was 455,000-480,000 yuan ($65,156-68,736) per tonne on Wednesday, up by 5,000-20,000 yuan per tonne from 450,000-460,000 yuan per tonne a week ago.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for ferro-tungsten export, min 75% fob China was at $143-150 per kilogram W on Wednesday, the price range widened from $134-142 per kilogram W in the previous week.

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