CME Group to launch tungsten futures for critical minerals demand

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CME tungsten futures launch

Highlights

CME Group will launch a financially settled tungsten futures contract on COMEX based on the Fastmarkets APT assessment for CIF Rotterdam and Baltimore.
Tungsten, with annual global production of 85,000–95,000 metric tons and critical mineral status in major economies, lacks a futures market despite strong spot demand.
CME Group's metals business posted record activity, averaging 1.2 million contracts daily in the first nine months of 2026, up 41% year-on-year.

Contract structure and launch timeline

As reported by CME Group, the new tungsten futures contract will be financially settled and based on the Fastmarkets assessment for tungsten APT, or Ammonium Paratungstate, duty unpaid on a CIF Rotterdam and Baltimore basis. The contract will be listed by, and subject to the rules of, COMEX.

CME Group says the global tungsten market has annual production of between 85,000 and 95,000 metric tons, but does not yet have a futures market despite an active spot market. The mineral has been designated as critical by the U.S., the E.U., Japan, India and other jurisdictions, underscoring its strategic role in industrial supply chains.

Jin Hennig, managing director and global head of metals at CME Group, says tungsten is increasingly important across advanced manufacturing, semiconductors and geopolitics, and that clients are seeking both hedging tools and better price transparency. He says the contract will add to CME Group's broader suite of critical minerals and energy transition metal products as supply chains continue to restructure.

Market demand and industry implications

Industry participants say the contract could help address commercial and budgeting risks in a market marked by volatility and concentrated supply. Quentin Lamarche, CEO of TechMet SCM, says transparent forward pricing should support the development of reliable long-term western supply chains, while Maarten Gassmann, managing director of Grondmet, says manufacturers have lacked a forward market for an input that is essential to production.

Fastmarkets CEO Raju Daswani says the contract links physical-market price discovery with new opportunities to manage price risk, using the publisher's tungsten APT assessment as its reference point. The launch also comes as CME Group's metals business posts record activity, with average daily volume reaching 1.2 million contracts across precious and industrial metals in the first nine months of 2026, up 41% from a year earlier.

Our earlier article covered China’s position on keeping rare earth shipments to Europe moving even if the temporary U.S.-China trade truce is not extended beyond January. We noted that Beijing signaled continued approvals for export licenses and discussed how ongoing EU-China talks are focused on maintaining reliable flows of strategically important critical materials for industry.

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