China: Reduce Exports of Tungsten

China exports" src="rare'>http://rareearthinvestingnews.com">rare earth and molybdenum exports, Chinese officials are cutting back exports of tungsten. With cutbacks in the REEs and moly exports have had positive impacts on price, most notable in REEs.

EMAIL PRINT
TEXT SIZE:
SHARE
RATE:
The cutbacks in exports quotas for tungsten are far less severe than the 72 percent reduction in rare earths. Chinese officials have stated that they have decided to cut tungsten export quota for 2011 by 300 tonnes to 15,700 tonnes compared with 16,000 tonnes for this year, as reported on Steel Guru. This export reduction will place upward pressure on prices, especially when coupled with increasing demand in China and worldwide; however, the modest size of the reduction will prevent the exploding of prices, like that experience by other reduced Chinese export commodities, from occurring in the tungsten market.

The Chinese government is also considering strategic reserves of ten metals, tungsten included. The combination of a reduction of exports as well as a potential buildup of stockpiles may force China to become a net importer of tungsten, a major benefit to non-Chinese producers of the metal.