China’s Tungsten Listed Firms Report Explosive H1 Profit Growth Amid Wild Commodity Price Cycle

According to Securities Daily, core A-share listed enterprises operating across the full tungsten industrial chain have published their half-year performance forecasts for 2026 by 15 July, delivering exceptional profit expansion fuelled by radical shifts in domestic tungsten supply and demand balances.

Domestic tungsten markets swung through extreme volatility across the first six months of 2026. Tungsten concentrate and ammonium paratungstate (APT) benchmark prices rallied to all-time peaks in the opening months of the year, before a wave of profit-taking by commodity traders and restrained spot purchasing from downstream manufacturers triggered sharp corrective falls mid-year. Average pricing levels for tungsten products over the half-year window remained substantially higher than equivalent figures recorded in 2025, lifting overall industrial profitability across the sector.

Four leading listed operators have released full half-year profit guidance, all recording steep year-on-year rises in attributable net profit.

Xianglu Tungsten Industry projects attributable net profit ranging from RMB 450 million to RMB 650 million for H1 2026, representing a year-on-year jump between 2,347.83 per cent and 3,435.76 per cent. Steady product shipment volumes and smooth pass-through of rising raw material costs to finished tungsten goods underpinned the extraordinary earnings expansion, with market price hikes for core manufactured products directly boosting top-line returns.

China Tungsten New Materials sits atop the sector’s profit rankings with integrated full-value-chain operations. Forecast attributable net profit lands between RMB 1.97 billion and RMB 2.17 billion, marking annual growth of 261 per cent to 298 per cent, while adjusted net profit expands 304 per cent to 345 per cent year on year. As a state-owned platform covering tungsten ore mining, APT smelting, tungsten powder carbonisation, cemented carbide cutting tools and PCB micro-drills, the firm locked in long-term supply contracts and inventory value gains secured during the first-quarter price surge to offset second-quarter price declines. Streamlined operational management, targeted production technical upgrades and expanded overseas sales channels unlock cross-segment synergy, highlighting the resilience of fully integrated operators against commodity cyclical swings.

Zhangyuan Tungsten Industry holds high self-sufficiency in domestic tungsten mineral resources and delivers robust profit expansion. The group estimates H1 attributable net profit of RMB 630 million to RMB 750 million, up 447.32 per cent to 551.57 per cent annually, with adjusted net profit rising 480.29 per cent to 592.60 per cent. In-house ore supplies retain resource-side margins through raw material inflation cycles, alongside product portfolio upgrades and matching price increases for industrial cutting tool ranges to drive simultaneous volume and value growth.

Xiamen Tungsten reports steady operational improvement, forecasting half-year net profit of roughly RMB 2.216 billion, a 128.62 per cent annual uplift, with adjusted net profit climbing 135.87 per cent. Its tungsten smelting and cemented carbide divisions capitalise on elevated average tungsten pricing for the first six months, while parallel operations covering new energy materials and rare earths dilute cyclical volatility within single business segments and stabilise overall earnings delivery.

Radical restructuring of domestic supply and demand fundamentals forms the core driver of widespread profit upgrades across leading tungsten operators. Centralised state controls cap national annual tungsten mining output quotas, with tighter extraction limits enforced for 2026 cutting actual domestic tungsten concentrate output year on year. Routine regulatory crackdowns on unlicensed mining and over-quota extraction further contract indigenous raw material supply. New large-scale tungsten mineral projects remain scarce in overseas territories, leaving global tungsten supplies heavily reliant on Chinese output and reinforcing the strategic scarcity of tungsten resources.

Market pricing data tracked by Shanghai Metals Market and Ganzhou Tungsten Industry Association charts the full half-year price swing. Benchmark 65 per cent wolframite concentrate traded at roughly RMB 454,500 per tonne at the close of 2025, before surging past RMB 1.02 million per tonne by mid-March 2026, setting an all-time spot market record, with APT prices peaking at RMB 1.5 million per tonne. Concentrate prices retreated to around the RMB 500,000 per tonne threshold by the end of June as traders offloaded speculative positions and downstream industrial buyers limited replenishment to immediate operational requirements. Average half-year pricing metrics remain far above 2025 readings due to sustained first-quarter price strength.

Demand growth spreads across established manufacturing sectors and fast-expanding emerging industrial verticals. Fixed demand for cemented carbide cutting tools persists within mechanical processing, engineering machinery and mineral extraction. New energy applications deliver the largest incremental consumption growth stream for tungsten metal, with rising penetration rates for tungsten cutting wire deployed to slice photovoltaic silicon wafers. Advanced semiconductor manufacturing also fuels fast-growing orders for high-purity tungsten sputtering targets and wiring materials.

Revised profit transmission dynamics across the industrial value chain represent a defining shift for the 2026 cycle. Past tungsten price rallies concentrated margin expansion exclusively within upstream mining segments, as downstream manufacturers resisted raw material cost hikes and restricted full price pass-through to end consumers. Downstream industrial operators accept greater volatility in tungsten feedstock pricing through 2026, enabling timely price adjustments for finished goods across mining, smelting and deep-processing divisions. All links within the tungsten value chain capture cyclical revenue uplifts, supporting earnings recovery for operators with diversified business footprints.

Targeted structural upgrades and refined operational workflows amplify profit margins for sector participants. Enterprises shift output away from low-value primary raw material exports toward high-margin deep-processed goods including precision cutting tools, PV-grade tungsten wire and high-purity tungsten new materials. China Tungsten New Materials expands manufacturing capacity for semiconductor micro-drills, Zhangyuan Tungsten Industry scales output of premium industrial cutting tools, and Xiamen Tungsten prioritises construction of PV tungsten wire production facilities. Deep-processing divisions exhibit greater resistance to spot price corrections and sustain consistent gross profit margins amid commodity volatility.

Industry participants anticipate extended inventory destocking to dominate domestic tungsten spot markets through the second half of 2026, limiting immediate upside for benchmark pricing. Fundamental supply constraints remain intact across the mineral segment, while seasonal demand acceleration from photovoltaic, energy storage and advanced manufacturing industries will release restocking requirements from downstream factories and establish durable price support levels for tungsten feedstock and finished goods alike.