The Global Tungsten Carbide Crisis: What Every Snow & Ice Professional Needs to Know

If you buy carbide plow blades, you need to read this.

The material inside those blades — tungsten carbide — is in the middle of a global supply crisis. Prices have risen as much as 10 times what they were 18 months ago. Supply is shrinking. And this is not going away anytime soon.

This affects every carbide blade on the market, from every manufacturer. Here’s what’s happening, why it matters to your operation, and what you can do about it.

What Is Tungsten Carbide and Why Should You Care?

Tungsten carbide is the hard material inside carbide cutting edges. It’s what makes a carbide blade last 10x – 20x longer than a regular steel blade. Without it, carbide blades don’t exist.

The raw tungsten used to make tungsten carbide comes almost entirely from one country: China. China produces roughly 80% of the world’s tungsten. That was fine when supply was steady and prices were stable. But that’s no longer the case.

What Happened

In late 2024, tungsten prices were stable. Today — just 18 months later — they’ve risen roughly 10 times. According to Yahoo Finance and Fastmarkets (one of the world’s leading commodity pricing firms), the main tungsten price benchmark has surged over 557% since China’s export controls began, and some industry trackers are now showing prices approaching 10x their late-2024 levels.

Here’s how it unfolded.

It started in November 2024, when China quietly added tungsten carbide to a new export control list. At the time, most people in our industry didn’t notice. Tungsten prices barely moved.

Then in February 2025, China made it official. All tungsten exports would now require a government license, approved case by case. Export volumes dropped immediately. According to Fastmarkets, China’s shipments of key tungsten products fell almost 70% compared to the year before. Prices started climbing — slowly at first, then faster as the world realized how little tungsten was leaving China.

By mid-2025, the crisis was accelerating. Prices had roughly doubled from where they started the year. Mines were shutting down in China due to environmental inspections. Global buyers were scrambling to lock in supply. The market was tightening month by month.

By the end of 2025, prices had more than tripled from their late-2024 baseline. Fastmarkets reported that some suppliers were already months behind on deliveries.

Then came January 6, 2026 — the day that broke the market open. China placed tungsten carbide on a military export control list and authorized only 15 companies in the entire country to export tungsten. Fifteen — for a material the world depends on. Prices surged again.

By March 2026, the main tungsten benchmark had risen over 557% according to Yahoo Finance. And as of today, industry reports show prices still climbing — approaching that 10x mark from where they stood just 18 months ago.

This is not slowing down. BMO, one of the world’s largest investment banks, warned in February 2026 that the world had “sleepwalked” into a tungsten shortage. Their analysts expect tight supply and high prices to continue well into the future.

Why It’s So Bad

Three things are happening at the same time, and they’re all making it worse.

China controls the supply — and they’re cutting it off. China mines about 80% of the world’s tungsten. They’ve cut mining quotas, shut down smaller mines for environmental reasons, and restricted exports. According to Fastmarkets, suppliers are now months behind on deliveries, and there’s almost no way to replace what China isn’t shipping.

The United States has no tungsten mines. None. The last U.S. tungsten mine shut down over a decade ago. Today, America is 100% dependent on imports and recycling for its tungsten, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. There are projects in the works to restart U.S. mining, but they’re years away from producing anything.

Other industries are competing for the same supply. Tungsten isn’t just used in plow blades. It’s used in military ammunition, missile parts, aircraft components, semiconductor chips, and electric vehicle manufacturing. The defense industry alone is expected to increase its tungsten use by 12% this year, according to industry research firm Project Blue. When the Department of Defense is competing with your highway department for the same material, your highway department is not going to win that bidding war.

The U.S. Government Is Taking This Seriously

If you need proof that this is a real crisis and not just industry hype, look at what the federal government is doing.

In February 2026, the U.S. launched Project Vault — committing over $10 billion to build a national stockpile of critical minerals, including tungsten. The government also hosted a Critical Minerals Summit with 54 countries to figure out how to reduce dependence on China. And the U.S. military is actively looking for new domestic sources of tungsten for defense manufacturing.

When Washington is spending billions to secure tungsten, you know this is not a problem that’s going away soon.

What This Means for You

Here’s the bottom line for anyone who buys carbide cutting edges.

Prices are going up — from every manufacturer. The raw material in your carbide blades has gone up 5x – 10x in cost. That cost is going to show up in what you pay for finished blades this season. This is not specific to any one company. Every manufacturer that uses tungsten carbide is affected.

Some products may be hard to get. Supply is tight and getting tighter. Products that use a lot of tungsten carbide inserts — like rubber-encased carbide blades — may face both higher prices and limited availability.

Planning ahead matters more than ever. If you wait until September to start thinking about blade purchases, you may face sticker shock — or worse, find out that what you want isn’t available. The time to plan is now.

What Winter Equipment Is Doing About It

Winter Carbide™ is not new. Our customers have been relying on it for over 35 years.

We originally developed Winter Carbide™ for use in our PlowGuards — the wear protection components that extend the life of cutting edge systems. For more than three decades, Winter Carbide™ has proven itself in the field, season after season, on plows across the country. It’s tough, it’s impact resistant, and it lasts.

What’s new is where we’re putting it.

In 2024, when we first noticed the cost of tungsten carbide starting to climb, we made a decision. Instead of waiting to see what would happen, we started testing Winter Carbide™ as a replacement for tungsten carbide inserts across the full length of the cutting edge. By fall of 2025, we had our first Winter Carbide™ cutting edges in the field being run in real-world conditions.

What that means for you: if you’re looking for a carbide cutting edge that isn’t dependent on imported tungsten carbide, it already exists — and it’s backed by over 35 years of field-proven performance.

Depending on the product, Winter Carbide™ cutting edges last 2x – 4x longer than standard tungsten carbide insert blades. All are more impact resistant than traditional tungsten carbide inserts, so they won’t shatter when they hit curbs or manholes. And because we make them here in America, they’re not dependent on Chinese supply chains, export controls, or foreign government decisions.

Our Razor^® with Winter Carbide™, Razor^® XL with Winter Carbide™, BlockBuster^® with Winter Carbide™, Vulcan^®, and MōDUS^® product lines all use Winter Carbide™. They’re available now — backed by decades of proven performance.

What You Can Do

Start planning now. Don’t wait for ordering season. Reach out to your blade suppliers early to understand pricing and availability for the upcoming season.

Know what to ask. Given the current market, you’re likely going to hear from suppliers offering alternatives to the tungsten carbide products you’ve been using. Some of these alternatives may be brand new and untested. Before you commit, ask three questions:

1. If you’re offering an alternative to tungsten carbide, does it perform the same — or am I giving up wear life to get around the supply problem?
2. How long has the material in your alternative been used in the field — is this a proven technology or something you’re still testing?
3. How stable is your pricing, and how quickly do I need to move from quote to purchase order?

The answers will tell you whether you’re getting a real solution or a rushed workaround.

Think about total cost, not just blade price. A blade that costs more upfront but lasts 2x – 3x longer will save you money over a season when you factor in fewer blade changes, less truck downtime, and lower salt usage from a cleaner scrape.

Download our free guide. We put together The Tungsten Carbide Crisis: A Guide for Snow & Ice Professionals — with sourced pricing data, a total cost of ownership framework, sample budget language you can share with your board, and a season planning checklist. Download it here

Talk to us. Whether you’re a Shop Foreman, Operator, or a Procurement Officer, our team can help you figure out the best path forward for your operation.

Call 1-888-294-9485 or Request a Quote Online

Sources

The data in this article comes from published industry reports and government sources. We’ve included links so you can verify the information and share it with decision-makers in your organization.

• Fastmarkets — “Tungsten 2026: Geopolitics Sets Global Tone” (March 2026)
• Fastmarkets — “Chinese Tungsten Product Prices Surge Over 200% in 2025” (January 2026)
• Fastmarkets — “China Tightens Export Controls on Tungsten” (January 2026)
• Yahoo Finance — “Tungsten Prices Surge 557%” (March 2026)
• BMO Global Commodities Research — via NAI 500 (February 2026)
• U.S. Department of State — “2026 Critical Minerals Ministerial” (February 2026)

• U.S. Geological Survey — 2025 Mineral Commodity Summaries, Tungsten