Tungsten Producers: Top 10 Companies in the World 2026

Tungsten producers are overwhelmingly concentrated in China, which accounts for roughly 80% of annual global mine output. According to the US Geological Survey, global tungsten production reached 85,000 metric tonnes in 2025, up from 82,000 MT in 2024 — yet supply remains critically tight following Beijing’s February 2025 export controls on tungsten and four other strategic metals. For procurement teams and investors tracking the tungsten price, understanding who controls production and processing capacity is essential context.

How We Ranked the Top 10 Tungsten Producers

Rankings are based on a combination of mine output volume, processing capacity, downstream integration, and strategic market influence. State-owned Chinese enterprises are assessed on their collective group footprint rather than individual subsidiary data. Western companies are ranked by their significance as producers, recyclers, or processors of primary tungsten supply chains. Pure trading intermediaries without production or processing assets are excluded.

1. China Minmetals Corporation — China

China Minmetals is the world’s largest tungsten producer by production volume, market control, and trading influence. The state-owned enterprise controls extensive mining assets across China’s tungsten-rich Jiangxi, Hunan, and Guangdong provinces, with its subsidiary Chinalco Minmetals Nonferrous Co. handling the bulk of trading flows. As the dominant force behind China’s quota-controlled tungsten concentrate system, Minmetals effectively sets the ceiling for global supply availability.

China’s 2025 export controls — which added tungsten products to the list of materials requiring export licences — amplified Minmetals’ strategic leverage. Western buyers who previously sourced tungsten intermediates directly from Chinese traders now face additional licensing requirements and potential supply gaps.

2. Xiamen Tungsten Co., Ltd. (XTC) — China (SZSE: 600549)

Xiamen Tungsten is the most vertically integrated tungsten company in the world, controlling the supply chain from mining through to finished tungsten carbide powders, wires, and cutting tools. Founded in 1958 and listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, XTC is one of China’s largest tungsten carbide manufacturers and a critical supplier to global tooling and electronics industries.

XTC’s downstream reach into battery materials — including cobalt and lithium processing through its Xiamen Tungsten New Energy subsidiary — makes it one of the few tungsten producers with meaningful exposure to the EV supply chain. Revenue exceeded RMB 30 billion in recent years, reflecting its scale across multiple critical minerals verticals.

3. Jiangxi Tungsten Holding Group Co., Ltd. — China

Jiangxi province holds the largest tungsten reserves in China, and Jiangxi Tungsten Holding Group is the dominant state-backed producer in the region. The group controls several of the province’s largest mines and operates high-volume smelting and refining capacity, producing ammonium paratungstate (APT) — the primary traded intermediate — for both domestic use and export.

Jiangxi Tungsten’s position as the largest single exporter of APT historically made it a critical pricing reference point. Following the 2025 export controls, its role in determining the availability of Chinese APT for international buyers has become even more consequential.

4. H.C. Starck Tungsten Powders / Masan High-Tech Materials — Vietnam / Germany

H.C. Starck Tungsten GmbH, now owned by Vietnam’s Masan High-Tech Materials (HOSE: MSN), represents the most strategically significant tungsten producer outside China. The combination links Masan’s Núi Pháo mine in northern Vietnam — one of the world’s largest tungsten deposits outside China with a 6,500 MT annual refining capacity — with H.C. Starck’s established European powder processing operations and decades-long customer relationships with Western aerospace and defence manufacturers.

Vietnam produced 3,000 MT of tungsten in 2025, making it the second-largest producing country. With US tariffs targeting Chinese tungsten and China responding with export controls, Masan/H.C. Starck is the single most important non-Chinese tungsten producer for Western supply chain diversification. The Núi Pháo refinery’s output of high-purity APT is already flowing to European and North American customers seeking alternatives to Chinese supply.

5. Sandvik AB — Sweden (NASDAQ OMX: SAND)

Sandvik is the largest Western consumer and recycler of tungsten, and through its Sandvik Coromant division, one of the most influential companies in the global tungsten carbide tooling market. While Sandvik does not mine primary tungsten ore, its scale as a buyer, processor of recycled tungsten scrap, and manufacturer of finished carbide products gives it structural influence over Western tungsten demand and secondary supply.

Sandvik’s extensive tungsten scrap recycling operations are an increasingly critical part of Western supply strategy. As primary Chinese supply tightens, recycled tungsten — predominantly recovered from spent cutting tools and industrial components — is gaining importance as a domestic Western feedstock. Sandvik recycles tens of thousands of tonnes of carbide tooling annually across its global manufacturing network.

6. Kennametal Inc. — United States (NASDAQ: KMT)

Kennametal is one of the largest Western tungsten processors and tooling manufacturers, headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company manufactures tungsten carbide wear components, industrial tooling, and advanced materials for the aerospace, energy, and defence sectors — markets where supply security is a procurement priority rather than a cost variable.

Kennametal operates its own tungsten recycling programme and has been vocal about supply chain vulnerability following China’s 2025 export controls. The company has historically sourced Chinese APT but has been diversifying towards Vietnamese and European supply alternatives. Its NASDAQ listing and US government customer base give it direct exposure to defence procurement requirements for domestically sourced critical materials.

7. Plansee Group / Global Tungsten & Powders (GTP) — Austria / United States

Austria’s Plansee Group is a global leader in powder metallurgy and refractory metals, operating through its Global Tungsten & Powders (GTP) subsidiary based in Towanda, Pennsylvania. GTP processes tungsten concentrates and recycled scrap into chemical intermediates, tungsten powders, and semi-finished components for the electronics, lighting, and defence sectors.

Plansee’s Mittersill mine in Salzburg — operated through its Wolfram Bergbau subsidiary — is Europe’s largest scheelite deposit and Austria’s primary source of domestic tungsten ore. Austria produced 840 MT of tungsten in 2025. Combined with GTP’s US processing capacity, Plansee represents the most complete Western tungsten production-to-processing supply chain currently operating.

8. Almonty Industries Inc. — Canada (TSX: AII)

Almonty Industries is the most strategically significant junior tungsten mining company in the world, operating assets exclusively outside China. The company runs the Panasqueira mine in Portugal — one of Europe’s oldest continuously operating tungsten mines — and has commenced commercial production at the Sangdong mine in South Korea, which holds one of the largest tungsten deposits globally.

Sangdong’s restart marks the first major Western-aligned tungsten mine brought into production in decades. Almonty has secured a long-term offtake agreement with Global Tungsten & Powders (GTP), creating a supply chain link from South Korean ore to US processing capacity. For buyers seeking verified non-Chinese tungsten supply, Almonty’s production trajectory is one of the key variables to monitor in 2026 and beyond. Spain also holds significant development-stage tungsten assets — Almonty’s Valtreixal project and EQ Resources’ Barruecopardo operation both contribute to a modest but growing European production base.

9. Chongyi Zhangyuan Tungsten Co., Ltd. — China (SZSE: 002378)

Chongyi Zhangyuan Tungsten is a publicly listed Chinese company integrating mining, smelting, and downstream processing in Jiangxi province. The company holds significant mining rights in China’s core tungsten belt and is a leading supplier of thermal spray powders, cemented carbide products, and specialised cutting tools to domestic and international markets.

Chongyi Zhangyuan’s significance lies partly in its role as a mid-tier producer operating between the state giants and the smaller private miners. Its listed status provides a degree of financial transparency uncommon among Chinese tungsten producers, making it a useful pricing reference for industry analysts.

10. Zhuzhou Cemented Carbide Group Co., Ltd. (ZCC) — China

ZCC, a core subsidiary of China Minmetals, is China’s largest developer and exporter of cemented carbide products. The company manufactures heavy-duty drill bits, mining components, and electronic parts, operating as a primary anchor for global carbide supply chains — including those serving Western engineering companies that source finished components rather than raw APT.

ZCC’s position at the downstream end of the tungsten supply chain means its export activity is partly distinct from primary APT flows. However, as Chinese tungsten export controls tighten across all product categories, ZCC’s shipments to international customers are subject to the same licensing regime that is reshaping procurement planning globally.

Top 10 Tungsten Producers — Summary Table

The Outlook for Tungsten Producers in 2026

China’s February 2025 export controls have structurally altered the tungsten market. APT prices have trended upward from already elevated levels, and Western buyers are accelerating procurement diversification — a process constrained by the fact that meaningful non-Chinese primary production capacity remains limited to Vietnam, Australia, Austria, Spain, and the nascent Sangdong operation in South Korea. For a detailed analysis of current pricing benchmarks and supply chain dynamics, see our tungsten price tracker.

The strategic dimension of tungsten — its use in ammunition, armour-piercing projectiles, and aerospace components — has elevated it to defence procurement priority status in the US, UK, and EU. CMN’s analysis of China’s critical minerals export controls and the broader technology metals at risk from Chinese supply restrictions provides further context on how tungsten fits into the wider supply security picture. UK-based specialty metals traders including Lipmann Walton are active in the tungsten trading market, representing one channel through which European buyers access non-Chinese supply.

Rwanda’s emergence as Africa’s largest tungsten producer — and ongoing questions about conflict mineral traceability in Central Africa — adds a due diligence dimension that procurement teams cannot ignore. Bolivia and Kazakhstan are adding volume at the margins, but neither is yet a reliable substitute for Chinese supply at scale. The next three years will test whether Western governments can translate strategic intent into functional supply chains before Chinese export restrictions tighten further.