Chinese rule under a cloud

摘要

THE CURRENT GLOBAL interest in tungsten was reflected by the record number of delegates from around the world who attended the recent annual general meeting of the International Tungsten Industry Association (ITIA) in Xiamen, China. The ITIA is the principal global organisation responsible for representing the interests of the tungsten sector. Presentations at the event covered a wide range of topics related to the global tungsten industry including occupational health and safety, prospective new projects, economic market conditions as well as the state of the Chinese, Japanese, European, Russian and Australian tungsten markets. As it stands, global consumption of the metal during 2008 is estimated at 92,000 tonnes per annum, having effectively doubled in the past decade. It is now growing atabout 3-5 percent per annum.