Analysis of the Current Situation of China's Tungsten Carbide Industry in 2024
With the technological progress of related industries such as petroleum, mining, automotive, and machinery, the upgrading and replacement of the domestic hard alloy market will be accelerated. The general low-end product market will gradually shrink, and the demand for precision wear-resistant hard alloy parts, CNC blades, integral cutting tools, ultrafine alloys, and large shaped products will continue to increase.
Introduction to Tungsten Carbide
Tungsten carbide is an alloy material made from hard compounds of refractory metals and bonded metals through powder metallurgy process. Hard alloy has a series of excellent properties such as high hardness, wear resistance, good strength and toughness, heat resistance, corrosion resistance, etc. Especially its high hardness and wear resistance remain basically unchanged even at a temperature of 500 ℃, and still have a high hardness at 1000 ℃.
With the development of downstream industries, the demand for cemented carbide market is constantly increasing. In the future, the manufacturing of high-tech weapons and equipment, the advancement of cutting-edge science and technology, and the rapid development of nuclear energy will greatly increase the demand for hard alloy products with high technological content and high quality stability.
The current situation of the tungsten carbide industry
Hard alloy, as an intermediate and consumable in industrial production, is known as the "teeth of industry". Its products are widely used in various industries such as mining, oil drilling, engineering machinery, metal cutting machine tools, automobile manufacturing, electronic information, and aerospace and military industry.
In recent years, with the stable growth of the economy, the demand for hard alloys in downstream industries and domestic and foreign markets has been continuously increasing, leading to the continuous growth of China's hard alloy industry market. China has developed into the world's largest producer and consumer of hard alloys.
China's manufacturing industry is in a recovery stage, which will drive the demand for hard alloy products. China is the country with the largest production of hard alloys, with an overall upward trend in production.
The hard alloy industry in China is highly concentrated. The China Tungsten Industry Development Report points out that in 2023, the total production of hard alloys in China was about 51200 tons, a year-on-year increase of 1.4%. According to statistical data, the total revenue of 57 enterprises in China's hard alloy industry reached 37.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.68%; The total profit reached 3.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2.1%. Among them, nine enterprises have profits exceeding 100 million yuan, including Xiamen Jinlu, Zhuzhou Oukeyi, Zhangyuan Tungsten Industry, Zhuzhou Huarui, Suzhou Xinrui, China Tungsten High tech and their four subsidiaries (Zhuzhou Hard Alloy Group, Zhuzhou Diamond Cutting, Shenzhen Jinzhou Precision Technology, and Zigong Hard Alloy). The total profit of nine companies is 2.13 billion yuan, accounting for 67% of the industry's total profit.
Hard alloys are widely used as tool materials, such as turning tools, milling cutters, planers, drill bits, boring cutters, etc., for cutting cast iron, non-ferrous metals, plastics, chemical fibers, graphite, glass, stone and ordinary steel. They can also be used for cutting difficult to process materials such as heat-resistant steel, stainless steel, high manganese steel, tool steel, etc. They are widely used in military industry, aerospace, mechanical processing, metallurgy, petroleum drilling, mining tools, electronic communication, construction and other fields.
According to relevant data from the China Tungsten Association, during 2023, the main demand for hard alloys in China comes from cutting tool alloys (accounting for 51%), wear-resistant tool alloys (accounting for 24%), mining tool alloys (accounting for 20%), and others (accounting for 5%).
In addition, according to relevant data from the China Tungsten Association, the overall consumption of hard alloys in China showed a continuous growth trend from 2019 to 2023. As of the end of 2023, the consumption of hard alloys in China reached 37200 metal tons. It can be seen that in recent years, the demand for hard alloy in China has remained at a high level for a long time.
According to the in-depth research report on the supply and demand layout and investment development strategy of China's hard alloy industry chain from 2024 to 2029 by China Academy of Industry Research
In recent years, the Chinese tungsten carbide industry has made significant progress in material research and development, process innovation, and other aspects. A series of high-performance and high value-added hard alloy products have been launched, meeting the diversified needs of the market. The application of hard alloys in CNC machine tools, automotive manufacturing, aerospace and other fields is becoming increasingly widespread. Meanwhile, with the rise of the consumer electronics industry, hard alloy cutting tools are gradually being applied in these fields. In the future, with the continuous innovation of technology and the optimization and development of the industrial chain, the application fields of hard alloy materials will be further expanded.