Export growth of tungsten products slowed down but the structure improved
Influenced by the trade friction between China and the United States, China's export of tungsten products is limited to some extent, while the real consumption demand for tungsten products in the international market is also gradually weakened. Since the middle of 2018, the growth rate of China's export of tungsten products has slowed down significantly, but last year's export of 32400 tons (excluding cemented carbide, metal), a year-on-year growth of 9.8%, the total volume is still a record high. Compared with 2011, in 2018, due to a 30% decline in the comprehensive price of tungsten products, the total export amount decreased by 8% when the total export volume increased by 18%.
From the perspective of export control of tungsten industry, in 2004, China gradually cancelled the export tax rebate policy for tungsten products; in 2006, tungsten products were listed in the catalogue of prohibited processing trade; in 2015, China cancelled the implementation of 22 years of initial and intermediate tungsten export quota license system and 7 years of initial and intermediate tungsten export provisional tariff, and tungsten exports gradually opened up.
China's tungsten products export enterprises are mainly large-scale state-owned enterprises, of which China Minmetals Group and its subsidiaries account for a large proportion.
China's export structure of tungsten products has improved: in 2018, China's export of tungsten products reached 39200 tons (including carbide and metal), a year-on-year increase of 10.73%, with a growth rate of 16.61 percentage points slower than that in 2017. Among them, exports of cemented carbide reached 7582.83 tons, a year-on-year increase of 22.38%, accounting for 20.05% of the total exports, an increase of 1.92 percentage points over 2017; exports of primary and intermediate smelting products reached 23700 tons, a year-on-year increase of 10.01%, accounting for 60.63% of the total exports, a decrease of 0.35 percentage points over 2017, and the structure of exports improved.
China's tungsten products are mainly exported to Europe, the United States, Japan, South Korea and other countries / regions with developed manufacturing industries. In 2018, the export volume of tungsten products from these four countries / regions accounted for 89.17% of the total, 1.59 percentage points lower than that in 2017. Affected by the trade friction between China and the United States, China's Tungsten exports to the United States decreased by 11.29% year on year, accounting for 13.96% and 2.96% respectively.
In terms of tungsten import, in 2018, China's decline was reversed: in 2018, China imported 4573 tons of tungsten products (excluding cemented carbide and metal), a year-on-year increase of 57.28%, changing the downward trend for four consecutive years. Among them, 3429 tons of imported tungsten concentrate increased by 68.76% year on year, accounting for 74.98% of total imports.
China's imports of tungsten concentrate mainly come from North Korea, Vietnam, Russia and Rwanda. In 2018, 2916 tons of tungsten concentrate were imported from these four countries, an increase of 160.59% year on year, accounting for 85.04% of the total imports. Among them, the proportion of North Korea increased by 26 percentage points, and that of Vietnam by 18 percentage points.
According to Russian news reports, the Russian Ministry of industry and trade plans to ban the export of non-ferrous ore, concentrate and precious metal waste from Russia from May 1 to October 31, 2019. In 2018, China imported 913.5 tons of tungsten concentrate from Russia, accounting for 13.72% of the total import of tungsten concentrate in 2018. Since this year, China's import of tungsten concentrate from Russia has been reduced to 0.
