Beijing, China -- (SBWire) -- 09/05/2010 -- China boasts rich tungsten resources with 60% of the world’s tungsten reserves. Its output of tungsten concentrate, APT, tungsten powder, tungsten carbide, and tungsten filament as well as its tungsten trade volume ranked first in the world in 2009. As tungsten is a strategic resource, China has implemented the quota of total tungsten exploitation amount since 2002 to restrict the exploitation of tungsten. The quota of total exploitation amount of tungsten concentrate (65% WO3) is 80,000 tons in 2010, which is 11,445 tons or 16.69% more than the 68,555 tons in 2009.

Although China has implemented years of total exploitation amount control on tungsten, the actual output has always exceeded the quota in each of the years. For example, China’s tungsten concentrate (65% WO3) output was 104,800 tons in 2009, which was 36,000 tons more than the quota.

China’s Tungsten Concentrate (65% WO3) Output, 2002-2010 (Unit: 1,000 Tons)

Source: National Bureau of Statistics of China

Xiamen Tungsten Co., Ltd. is an important tungsten smelting and manufacturing enterprise in China. Its tungsten smelting capacity is 12,000 tons, ranking first in the world. It has two tungsten mines, two tungsten smelters, one tungsten carbide company, and four tungsten and molybdenum filament companies. With a variety of products and a complete industrial chain covering tungsten concentrate - tungsten smelting - tungsten processing, it has sharpened its competitive edge in the industry.

Xiamen Tungsten’s development in 2010 will mainly be affected by the following factors:

1. Export Quota

As the export quota it obtained cannot meet its export demand, Xiamen Tungsten has been borrowing quotas from Minmetals in recent years. But as China’s total tungsten export quota decreases, borrowing quotas cannot resolve the problem of export very well. In this regard, Xiamen Tungsten will accelerate the development of its own mines and the deep-processed products that do not need export quotas in 2010 to gradually reduce its dependence on the export quota.

2. Weaker Demand for Tungsten Filament Caused by the Development of LED Lights

The rapid development of LED has caused the overall decline in China’s demand for tungsten filament, which has also impacted the tungsten filament business of Xiamen Tungsten. Therefore, Xiamen Tungsten will orient its tungsten filament business to the R&D and promotion of tungsten and molybdenum filament for energy-saving lamps as well as specialty tungsten and molybdenum filament in 2010 to reduce the impact of the declining demand for tungsten filament.

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