CME Group Plans Tungsten Futures Launch on COMEX for Early Q1 2027

CME Group will launch financially settled Tungsten futures with trading to start by early Q1 2027, pending all relevant regulatory reviews, the exchange announced on October 19, 2026. The contract will be listed by and subject to the rules of COMEX, with settlement based on the Fastmarkets assessment for tungsten APT (ammonium paratungstate) CIF Rotterdam and Baltimore.

The global tungsten market has annual production between 85,000 and 95,000 metric tons and is worth over $20 billion based on current spot prices, according to the release. Tungsten has been identified as a critical mineral by the U.S., the E.U., Japan, India and others, and while the metal has an active spot market, it lacks a futures market.

CME Group’s tungsten product page confirms the Q1 2027 window, again noting the pending regulatory review, and states that the financially settled contract will allow market participants to manage price risk independently from physical supply constraints. The page describes tungsten as an essential material for key industrial sectors, from aerospace and defense to automotive and heavy manufacturing, and lists central clearing through CME ClearPort among the contract’s key features.

Contract Specifications

The contract will trade under the Globex code TUG with a size of 88.5 metric tonne units (mtu) of WO3, equivalent to one metric ton at 88.50% WO3 content, according to CME Group’s tungsten fact card. Prices are quoted in U.S. dollars per mtu with a minimum price increment of $0.50 per mtu, equal to $44.25 per contract. Monthly contracts are listed for the current year and the next two calendar years.

Each contract terminates at the close of trading on the last assessment day of the underlying index in the contract month; if that day is not an exchange business day, the contract terminates on the exchange business day immediately prior. The floating price for each contract month equals the average of all available price assessments published by Fastmarkets MB for that calendar month for “Tungsten APT 88.5% WO3 min cif Rotterdam and Baltimore duty-free, $/mtu WO3.”

In an FAQ published the same day, CME Group said the 88.5 mtu unit was chosen because it represents approximately one metric ton of ammonium paratungstate at standard commercial specifications of 88.5% WO3 minimum purity. Because physical APT trades globally on a per-mtu WO3 basis, pricing the contract directly in dollars per mtu reflects standard physical trading terms, allowing participants to hedge without converting between weight units or purity factors, the exchange said. Listing contracts for the current and the next two calendar years establishes a forward price curve and enables long-term hedging strategies, according to the FAQ.

The FAQ also states that Tungsten futures will be available to trade on-screen via Globex and for submission for clearing through CME ClearPort. Inter-dealer brokers are able to facilitate block trading in the contract, with a minimum block size of two contracts and a requirement that trades be reported by the broker within 15 minutes of execution.

The FAQ describes tungsten as a vital material used to manufacture cemented carbides (hardmetals), high-speed steels, heating elements and specialized alloys across industries including automotive, aerospace, construction, electronics and defense, citing its extreme hardness, high melting point and role in industrial applications and clean technology.

The Tungsten Market and the Settlement Benchmark

The underlying Fastmarkets assessment serves as a key industry reference point for pricing APT and associated upstream concentrates and downstream products across the supply chain, according to the FAQ, capturing the value of technical-grade APT traded in spot markets across the main western trading locations.

Fastmarkets assesses the tungsten market weekly against APT 88.5% WO3 min benchmarks in $/mtu, with regional references for CIF Rotterdam & Baltimore (duty-free) and FOB China alongside tungsten concentrate and ferro-tungsten prices, according to the price reporting agency’s tungsten page. The CIF Rotterdam and Baltimore assessment used for settlement carries the code MB-W-0001. Fastmarkets states that its tungsten benchmarks are underpinned by over 30 years of tungsten price history reporting and an IOSCO-aligned methodology, with assessments tied to exchange markets where relevant and subject to monthly consistency audits.

CME Group said the contract should be of interest to APT producers, miners, processors, hardmetal and cemented carbide manufacturers, OEMs, merchant traders and consumers across the supply chain, and that it will allow financial market participants to access the tungsten market without managing a physical delivery process.

“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,” said Jin Hennig, Managing Director and Global Head of Metals at CME Group. Hennig said the contract will join the exchange’s growing suite of critical minerals and energy transition metal products, providing clients more opportunities to manage risk as global supply chains restructure.

Quentin Lamarche, CEO of TechMet SCM, described the contract as an important new tool to manage the commercial risks involved in the physical trading and logistics of tungsten, adding that transparent forward pricing will support reliable, long-term western supply chains. “For our manufacturing clients, tungsten is essential to production but has been difficult to budget for without a forward market,” said Maarten Gassmann, Managing Director of Grondmet. “This contract fills that gap, allowing them to plan their operations with greater cost certainty.”

Raju Daswani, CEO of Fastmarkets, said growing volatility and concentrated supply are increasing the need for transparent, trusted price benchmarks in the tungsten market, and called the launch a significant step in the market’s development that connects physical-market price discovery with new opportunities to manage price risk.

Trading in CME Group’s metals business set a record in the first nine months of 2026, with a total of 1.2 million contracts traded daily across precious and industrial metals activity, up 41% year-on-year, the exchange said.