CME Plans to Launch the World's First Tungsten Futures as Arms Demand Surges, Raising Risk of Severe Shortages by 2030

CME Group plans to launch the world's first tungsten futures contracts, with trading expected to begin in early Q1 2027, pending regulatory approval. The contracts will be settled against Fastmarkets' Western ammonium paratungstate (APT) benchmark price, introducing an exchange-based forward pricing mechanism to a tungsten market currently reliant on spot pricing. After China implemented export restrictions in early 2025, the Western APT benchmark price once surged to $3,000 per tonne, and has since fallen back to around $2,775 per tonne.