日经报道三菱材料转向越南采购再生钨以规避中国出口管制，但系趋势性回顾、无新增交易催化

TOKYO -- Mitsubishi Materials is sourcing recycled tungsten from Vietnam for carbide tools, turning to a costlier source for the industrial metal to sidestep Chinese export restrictions, Nikkei has learned.
Buying from Vietnam has let the Japanese manufacturer stock its domestic production facilities, but also forced it to increase its own prices drastically, part of a trend that could leave Japanese players in a tough competitive position if the curbs remain in place.
Tungsten is used in ultra-hard carbide blades and bits for machine tools, which are essential to the precision metalwork needed for auto engines and aircraft parts. This year, Mitsubishi Materials began full-scale imports of tungsten from Vietnam, including products recycled from carbide scrap.
Until 2024, the Japanese company held a stake in the recycling facility operator from which it is buying. Mitsubishi Materials continued doing some business with the supplier after the capital relationship ended, but it favored cheaper tungsten from China until the export curbs forced a change.
Mitsubishi Materials now imports no tungsten from China, but a source said it has secured the amount of the metal it needs.
Beijing restricted exports of tungsten products and four other categories of metals in February 2025. Japan's imports of three tungsten-related products covered by these measures were down roughly 90% in August 2026 from two years earlier.
Japanese companies have been scrambling for alternative sources. The share of Japan's tungsten imports coming from China dropped to 13% in the eight months through August from 47% in the same period of 2024. Meanwhile, Vietnam's share quadrupled to 20%, and imports from the U.S. rose as well.
The problem is cost. Market prices for tungsten have roughly tripled since the start of this year, data from commodity information provider Argus Media shows.
Mitsubishi Materials has responded by hiking prices for carbide tools and related parts starting with June orders, with some items more than tripling in price. Japanese rival Sumitomo Electric Industries recently increased prices for the third time this year.
"We still need to raise prices further," Mitsubishi Materials President Tetsuya Tanaka has said.
As of August, international prices for tungsten were three times higher than Chinese market prices, Argus reports. As Japanese manufacturers raise prices, they risk losing ground to Chinese carbide tool makers.
Smaller manufacturers are having an even harder time.
Big companies with buying power can still source the materials they need, even if at a higher cost. But "small-scale carbide tool makers can't get their hands on expensive materials, so they'll probably struggle to operate," an industry insider said.
"Prices for some materials are over 10 times where they were before the export restrictions," a representative of a small carbide tool company in Osaka said. "With prices soaring, customers are leaving. Our orders are down around 20%." Supply from three of the company's six usual suppliers has been cut off.