CME Group plans tungsten futures for early 2027 pending regulatory review
The financially settled COMEX contract would track a Fastmarkets APT assessment for Rotterdam and Baltimore.
Theo Marchetti
CME Group Inc. NASDAQCME, which trades on Nasdaq, said on Monday it plans to launch tungsten futures in early 2027, pending all relevant regulatory reviews. Each contract would cover 88.5 metric tonne units of tungsten trioxide, approximately one tonne of commercial ammonium paratungstate.
The Chicago-based derivatives operator said the contract would be listed on COMEX and settled financially against a Fastmarkets assessment for ammonium paratungstate, known as APT, in Rotterdam and Baltimore. Financial settlement would allow participants to manage price exposure separately from physical supply.
CME's Oct. 19 FAQ puts the launch in the first quarter of 2027 and identifies miners, processors, APT producers and cemented carbide manufacturers among the intended users. The contract would also give financial investors access without a physical delivery process.
CME shares NASDAQCME closed at US$293.87 on Nasdaq at 4 p.m. EDT on Oct. 16, according to Google Finance, before Monday's announcement.
Contracts Would Extend Across Three Calendar Years
CME said futures would be available for the current calendar year and the following two years, establishing a forward price curve for longer-term hedging. Prices would be quoted in dollars per metric tonne unit of tungsten trioxide, matching the basis used in physical APT trading. CME's contract materials specify APT with at least 88.5 per cent tungsten trioxide.
The planned trading routes are electronic execution through CME Globex and submission for clearing through CME ClearPort. The FAQ sets a minimum block trade of two contracts, with brokers required to report those trades within 15 minutes of execution.
"Tungsten sits at the intersection of advanced manufacturing, semiconductor technologies and geopolitics, and our clients are increasingly seeking to hedge their exposure and improve price transparency," CME global head of metals Jin Hennig said in the release.
CME said in its Oct. 19 announcement that tungsten has an active spot market but lacks a futures market. It estimated annual production at 85,000 to 95,000 tonnes and valued the global market at more than US$20 billion using spot prices at the time.
The proposed addition follows record activity in CME's existing metals business. In the same announcement, CME reported average daily trading of 1.2 million contracts across precious and industrial metals for the first nine months of 2026, up 41 per cent from a year earlier.
Producers Are Adding Physical Supply
Almonty Industries Inc. NASDAQALM FRAALI1 reported on Sept. 29 that it had produced its first bags of tungsten concentrate at Sangdong in South Korea. Its mill was then operating for 13 hours a day, seven days a week.
Almonty said it expected its second-phase expansion to be completed in 2027, increasing annual capacity to as much as 1.2 million tonnes.
Read more: Allied Critical Metals gains EU strategic status for Borralha tungsten
CME's next stated milestone is the planned start of trading in early Q1 2027. The launch remains subject to regulatory review, and the Oct. 19 announcement gives no specific first trading date.
