Currently, Japan's core high-end manufacturing industries such as chips and automobiles are in an extremely passive situation. As the world's largest tungsten producer, China's current exports of tungsten-related products to Japan have dropped to zero. It is reported that from February to April this year, the tungsten carbide and tungsten powder sent to Japan in China's foreign export list have completely returned to zero, and no relevant goods have been released for customs clearance.
In a public interview in May this year, Osamu Inoue, President of Japan's Sumitomo Electric Industries, officially confirmed that the company's channels for purchasing tungsten from China have been completely shut down. The high-precision machining tools produced by Sumitomo Electric have long been supplied to the automobile and aircraft parts production chain. Previously, about 30% of the production raw materials had long been imported from China.
Although Sumitomo Electric has urgently tried to find alternative sources of supply from the United States to fill the gap, the sharp surge in import costs has been directly transmitted to the selling prices of end products, and the highest price increase of related tool products has reached 60%.
Mitsubishi Materials in the same industry has officially announced that starting from June, all new orders will increase the price of tungsten-containing superhard materials to more than three times the original price.
Under the dual pressure of the supply crisis and skyrocketing prices, an insider from a local core manufacturer in Japan revealed that all downstream customers are now rushing to place orders regardless of cost in order to lock in safety stocks as much as possible.
Japan has almost no tungsten-related mineral resources. Previously, the supply of related raw materials was basically 100% dependent on imports, the vast majority of which came from China. Tungsten itself has the unique properties of ultra-high hardness, ultra-high melting point, ultra-wear resistance and high temperature resistance. It is an indispensable core material in the entire modern industrial system. Currently, no other material can perfectly replace its role.
The drill bits and precision machining tips of high-end machine tools must be doped with tungsten, otherwise it will be impossible to cut and polish high-strength special metals. The production of core precision parts for automobiles, aircraft, and high-speed rail is completely inseparable from the blessing of tungsten-based carbide.
The production process of precision components and high-temperature-resistant core components of semiconductor equipment must also use high-purity tungsten powder as the core raw material. Tungsten has penetrated into almost all key links of high-end manufacturing.
In addition to the civilian industry, tungsten is an irreplaceable and urgently needed material in the military industry. High-temperature resistant core components for fighter aircraft, missiles, and ships, as well as various precision military parts, all require high-performance tungsten materials as core support.
Its importance can be summed up in the most straightforward statement,Without an adequate supply of tungsten, high-end machine tools cannot chew high-strength special metals, various types of precision equipment cannot be manufactured at all, and military equipment cannot be produced on the ground. The entire high-end industrial system based on precision processing will directly fall into a state of shutdown and paralysis.