China will continue to dominate the global tungsten market while the domestic industry grows and exports fall further, Lian Hongmei, general manager of China National Nonferrous Metals Import and Export Jiangxi Corp, said on Tuesday.

 

"We do believe the Chinese tungsten industry will develop healthily and quickly and China will continue to dominate the international market," she said at Metal Bulletin's Ferroalloys Conference here.

 

China is the world's leading producer of tungsten, with output of 51,000 tonnes (in terms of metal content) last year out of a global total of 61,000 tonnes. While exports have fallen, prices have hit record levels, traders said.

 

Ammonium paratungstate (APT) hit a peak of some $460 per metric tonne unit (MTU) before settling at $450, while alloy ferro-tungsten was as high as $52 per kg and is now just below $50.

 

China's tungsten profile has changed, Lian said - it used to export material primarily but domestic consumption has outpaced export volume since 2008. China first imposed export quotas in 2003, setting a maximum of 18,075 tonnes. These have decreased consistently - last year's quota was set at 15,700 tonnes.

 

On ferro-tungsten, China switched policy in 2005 - exports used to receive a 13 percent tax refund, but from 2006 duty was levied, initially at 10 percent, then raised to 20 percent in 2008. The peak year for production and exports was 2007, just before the economic downturn.

 

Ferro-tungsten production and exports reached record levels of 13,620 tonnes and 6,628 tonnes respectively. Last year they amounted to 7,610 tonnes and 1,277 tonnes, she said.

 

But smuggling of the alloy is taking place. According to customs statistics, 2,652 tonnes of Chinese origin ferro-tungsten were imported by the rest of the world last year - a difference of 1,725 tonnes above the export quota.