[Ferro-Alloys.com] China, as the world’s largest tungsten resource country, holds 58.95% of global tungsten reserves and supplies and around 85% of tungsten ore worldwide. In 2012, China newly added 200,000 tons of tungsten reserves and output 131,100 tons of tungsten concentrates, down 3.35% from a year earlier. Exposed to the restrictive policies on control of exploitation amount and export quotas as well as new limited prospecting of resources, etc, the supply and demand in tungsten market is obviously out of balance, and it is expected that Chinas output of tungsten ore will see limited growth in the upcoming several years, and that global tungsten market will be still in tight supply.

 

The slowdown in downstream demand from machining, electronics, real estate markets in 2012 caused the sluggish development of China tungsten industry, with the consumption of tungsten concentrate decreasing by 15.6% year-on-year and the lingering price slump.

 

In China, major tungsten producing regions are concentrated in Jiangxi, Hunan, Henan, Guangxi and Fujian, the combined tungsten concentrate of which occupied over 88% of China’s total in 2012. In particular, Jiangxi came out top in terms of tungsten concentrate output, registering 46,500 tons.

 

In Jiangxi, leading tungsten processing enterprises include Chongyi Zhangyuan Tungsten Co Ltd, Jiangxi Tungsten Industry Group Co Ltd, Jiangxi Rare Earth Metals Tungsten Group Co Ltd, and Jiangxi Xiushui Xianglushan Tungsten Co Ltd, while in Hunan, the counterparts are represented by Hunan Nonferrous Metals Holding Group Co Ltd and Chenzhou Mining Group Co Ltd.