If you have carbide inserts, worn end mills or heavy alloy scrap sitting in a bin, you have probably looked up what it is worth and found nothing you could use. No chart, no per-pound number anyone will stand behind. You did not search wrong. Tungsten does not have a public price the way copper or aluminum does, and once you know why, you will sell it differently.
Tungsten is not traded on an exchange
Copper, aluminum, nickel and several other industrial metals trade on the London Metal Exchange, so a live public price exists every minute the market is open. Tungsten was never added to that list. There is no futures contract and no daily settlement price, so there is nothing to screenshot and nothing to hold a buyer to.
This is the single assumption we correct most often on our own pricing page: there is no spot price for tungsten, so anything that looks like one online is a guess wearing a data costume.
What the weekly price assessments actually cover
A handful of research firms, among them Fastmarkets, Argus and Asian Metal, do publish weekly tungsten price assessments. Those are subscription products built for traders, and they are judgment calls based on surveyed activity, not a settled trade price the way an LME contract produces one.
More important for you: those assessments price refined product, mostly ammonium paratungstate (APT), the intermediate that gets converted into tungsten powder and metal. They do not price scrap. A number built for a trader buying APT by the container tells you almost nothing about what your drum of mixed inserts and end mills is worth.
What actually sets the number on your lot
Five things move a real quote, and none of them show up on a generic chart:
- Tungsten content, which varies by material class and by how mixed the lot is.
- Binder chemistry and percentage. Carbide runs a cobalt binder typically between 3 and 20 percent by weight, and cobalt content changes what we can pay. Heavy alloy uses nickel-iron or nickel-copper instead of cobalt, which is a different calculation entirely.
- Contamination such as coolant, oil, packaging or mixed non-tungsten metal.
- Form. Solid inserts and round tool price differently than grinding sludge or off-spec powder, because they cost differently to process.
- Quantity. Below a certain lot size, the cost of sampling and assaying a lot exceeds what the transaction is worth, so small offers cannot be priced at all.
You do not need to sort any of this before you call. Tell us roughly what you have and roughly how much, and identification becomes our job, not yours.
Why values have moved in the last year
China mines roughly 79 percent of the world’s tungsten and has been tightening export controls. Authorized tungsten exporters were cut to 15 companies for 2026 and 2027, and tungsten exports to Japan for military-relevant end uses were restricted in January 2026. Ammonium paratungstate went from about $331 per metric ton unit at the start of 2025 to more than $1,090 by early January 2026, according to USGS and Fastmarkets figures cited in Tungsten Parts Wyoming’s reporting on the export restrictions.
Feedstock getting harder to source out of China pushes value back toward material that is already inside the country, including scrap. Tungsten Parts Wyoming’s own September 2026 tracking, in a pricing comparison against lead and gold, put finished tungsten metal at roughly $72 a pound and scrap in a $4.65 to $10.05 a pound band. Those figures move with the market. They are a directional reference, not a quote, which is exactly the point of this article.
How to get a real number instead of a guess
Send a sample, or let us come get one. On lots above 2,000 pounds we will usually arrange to pull the sample on site rather than asking you to ship one in first. We assay it, and you get a written quote against your actual material before anything moves. No renegotiation once it lands on our dock, because the number was never a guess to begin with. The full sequence, including freight, is laid out on how selling works, and the accepted material classes are on what we buy.
Tungsten Buyers is the scrap acquisition arm of Tungsten Parts Wyoming, which runs powder-to-part tungsten manufacturing in Laramie, Wyoming. We melt what we buy and use it ourselves, so a quote from us starts with an assay of your material instead of a number pulled off a price page.
Why can’t I just look up a scrap tungsten price the way I can for copper or aluminum?
Because tungsten has no futures contract and no exchange listing. Copper and aluminum trade on the London Metal Exchange, so a live number exists at any moment. Tungsten does not. What exists instead are weekly assessments from firms like Fastmarkets, Argus and Asian Metal, and those price refined product such as ammonium paratungstate, not scrap sitting in your shop.
Is a scrap tungsten price chart on a supplier’s website reliable?
Treat it as a rough signal at best. A number posted on a website cannot reflect the tungsten content, binder percentage or contamination in your specific lot, so it functions as a marketing figure rather than a quote. The only number worth acting on is one issued against an assay of your own material.
Does tungsten carbide scrap price the same as tungsten heavy alloy scrap?
No. Tungsten carbide (WC-Co) runs a cobalt binder typically between 3 and 20 percent by weight, and cobalt content changes what a buyer can pay. Tungsten heavy alloy (W-Ni-Fe or W-Ni-Cu) is 90 to 97 percent tungsten with a nickel-iron or nickel-copper binder instead of cobalt. Mixing the two families in one bin is not a problem on our end since we sort it, but it does mean a single price per pound was never realistic in the first place.
Why have scrap tungsten values moved recently?
China supplies roughly 79 percent of the world’s mined tungsten and has been tightening export controls, cutting authorized exporters to 15 companies for 2026 and 2027 and restricting tungsten exports to Japan in January 2026. Ammonium paratungstate went from about $331 a metric ton unit at the start of 2025 to more than $1,090 by early January 2026. Feedstock getting harder to source out of China tends to push value back toward domestic scrap.
How fast can I get a real number instead of an estimate?
The sample and assay step sets the pace. Once we have a sample of your material in hand, the assay and written quote follow quickly. On lots above 2,000 pounds we can send someone to pull the sample on site instead of asking you to ship one first.
Do I have to pick a buyer before I know what my lot is worth?
You have to send a sample before anyone can tell you what a specific lot is worth, and that is true everywhere, not just here. What you can compare beforehand is how a buyer prices it: against an assay of your material, or against a number somebody made up. Only one of those is a real quote.
