International market power analysis of China's tungsten export market from the perspective of tungsten export policies

Tungsten is a widely used metal related to national strategic security. As the world's largest tungsten producer and exporter, China has restricted tungsten exports over the past decade. Has China acquired the corresponding international market power in the export market after these export restrictions? Based on an expansion of the Song-Marchant-Reed (SMR) model, this paper selects 17 of China's major tungsten importers and estimates the international market power of Chinese tungsten exports over the period from 1992 to 2016. In addition, the effectiveness of China's tungsten export control policies is examined. The empirical results show that China has stronger market power relative to the major tungsten importers. Moreover, from the encouragement phase to the restraint phase of China's export policy, the difference in the export market power between China and the importers has substantially increased from 0.027 to 0.161. This shows that due to the implementation of export restrictions, China has gained more export market power, indicating that its tungsten export control policies are very effective. Based on the empirical results, this paper analyses the reasons for China's rising market power and the effectiveness of its export policies and proposes corresponding policy recommendations.