U.S. Restricts Tungsten Scrap Exports as Prices Surge Over 500% on Chinese Curbs
Washington's one-year licence requirement for tungsten waste and battery scrap exports signals a direct response to China's grip on critical mineral processing.
The U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security on Wednesday (2026-08-05) acted to require export licences for tungsten waste and scrap. Black mass, the shredded residue of spent lithium-ion batteries, was added to the list alongside it. Neither material can now leave the country without government approval for at least one year, oilprice.com reported.6
Tungsten prices had already surged more than 500% over the preceding twelve months, oilprice.com data showed, driven by Chinese export restrictions, tight global supply, and rising military procurement spending. The scale of that move makes the U.S. action look reactive rather than pre-emptive.6
Beijing's use of mineral export controls as diplomatic leverage was visible before Washington responded. China halted exports of several heavy rare earths and gallium to Japan starting in December 2025, Japan NRG Weekly reported on Monday (2026-05-25), with Chinese customs data indicating the flow had effectively stopped. The concern among Tokyo's policymakers was that Beijing was deploying supply chain access as pressure amid tensions over Taiwan. Tungsten sits in the same strategic category.2
The IEA's World Energy Outlook 2025, published on Wednesday (2026-05-20), captured the scale of the underlying dependency: one country dominates refining for 19 of the 20 key strategic minerals tracked, averaging a 70% global market share. That concentration means disruptions radiate broadly through both defence supply chains and energy transition manufacturing.1
A Bloomberg Odd Lots podcast on the tungsten market identified the macroeconomic dimension. Governments ramping strategic procurement face a double drag: higher spending on materials that generate no commercial return, compounded by the dampening effect of supply anxiety on broader industrial activity.5
That dynamic is shaping Asia's energy investment decisions. An IEA report noted global energy investment had reached $3.4 trillion as Asian economies redesigned their strategies around Middle East supply route risks, asian-power.com reported in June 2026 (2026-06-01). Resource security, extending beyond hydrocarbons to minerals, is now driving capital allocation across the region.3
The black mass inclusion in the U.S. export restriction is meaningful on its own terms. Black mass is a concentrated source of cobalt, lithium and nickel, the same metals driving competition between Washington and Beijing over electric vehicle supply chains. Requiring a licence to export it inverts earlier U.S. policy, which largely left battery recycling flows to market forces.6
Studies of critical mineral supply chains show that shocks cascade through horizontal and vertical pathways, becoming most severe at refining and manufacturing bottlenecks, Energy Voice reported in July 2026 (2026-07-15). Cobalt and lithium disruptions in particular create sudden breakdowns that are difficult to anticipate. The U.S. decision to cover black mass in its export controls reflects the same logic: retain recycled battery feedstock domestically before it is processed into cathode metals overseas.4
Washington's measure is framed as a one-year restriction, short enough to signal urgency without committing to a permanent regime. But a metal that has moved more than 500% in twelve months is not responding to temporary policy shifts. Defence procurement officers and battery supply chain managers are watching whether the licence requirement tightens further or whether allied governments in Europe and Asia introduce parallel measures.6,5
The more consequential signal is China's next move on export controls. If Beijing extends restrictions beyond gallium and rare earths to cover tungsten exports directly, stockpiling pressure in Western markets will intensify faster than supply diversification programmes can absorb. That is a development traders and supply chain managers have no reliable way to price ahead of time.2,6