Price of Tungsten Products on Oct. 29 2026

Tungsten prices in China have been grinding higher for weeks, and the move is now showing up in scrap carbide values. Sellers are holding material, low-priced supply is thin, and scrap tungsten carbide rod prices have rebounded more than 30% from their lows in less than ten trading days. If you have used carbide inserts, PDC cutters, tricone cones, or worn drill bits sitting in a bin, this is the Oct 29, 2026 market picture — and what it means before you sell.

Where Prices Stand Right Now

As of Oct 29, 2026, every step of the tungsten chain ticked up RMB 10,000–20,000 across the board — a broad-based move, not an isolated jump in one product. Current domestic Xiamen, China quotes:

Why the Rally Is Here

• Limited mine supply — remaining annual mine production quotas are finite, and smelter operating rates stay low.
• Q4 restocking season — traditional year-end buying is starting to show up.
• Oversold recovery — prices had fallen too far earlier in the year (65% wolframite bottomed near RMB 405,000/ton in June), and the technical bounce still has momentum.
• Sellers holding firm — low-priced tonnage is scarce on the floor, and producers are unwilling to undercut each other.

The Bull Case: Where Prices May Go

Market veterans are calling for tungsten concentrate to test RMB 400,000 per standard ton and APT to test RMB 600,000 per ton — meaningful further upside from the current 346,000 / 540,000 levels. On a rough raw-material cost build, tungsten powder already has theoretical support above RMB 800,000 per ton; actual deals are closing around RMB 770,000–810,000, which means the cost floor is already being approached from below.

The Counterweight: Why the Rally May Stall

Downstream buyers are not chasing. Alloy shops are still digesting earlier high-priced inventory, end-user installation projects have slipped on cost volatility, and fabricators are extending tool life through better grades and management. Trading volumes remain thin — the market is better than Q3, but it is not hot. After the 30%+ pop in scrap carbide rod, profit-taking and selling pressure are starting to widen the bid–ask spread, which usually means the fast-money move is over and the next leg will be slower.

What This Means for Your Scrap Carbide

For anyone holding scrap tungsten carbide — worn cutting inserts, used drill bits, drawn carbide rod blanks, or spent PDC cutters — the message is straightforward: values have already recovered sharply off the October lows, and the cost-support narrative still points upward. The risk of waiting for the absolute top is real, but so is the risk of selling into a market that has not yet hit its seasonal peak. If you have worn PDC bits or scrap tricone cones accumulating on the rack, getting a current quote now — before year-end restocking fully kicks in — is a reasonable move.