The Spanish tungsten has starred in two outstanding moments and can play a third now as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The first during the First World War, from the mines of Galicia, Extremadura and Castilla y León. And the second during the Second World War, from the Galician extractions. In both cases, to the usual uses related to the filament of light bulbs and cutting tools, they added functions at the service of the war machine to strengthen the steel of weapons, ballistics and armor.
Now it reappears. Given the enormous scarcity of the mineral in Europe and the extraordinary demand for the manufacture of mobile phones, dental tools or LCD panels, the EU has it on its list of critical raw materials. In this way, Galician and Portuguese tungsten may represent 55% of all of Europe as of 2023.
The fact is that the antidotes to the pandemic will fulfill their mission in the coming months, both the social measures to support the population and the rebalancing of income, as well as the Next Generation funds. Commodities are slightly easing their upward pressure, which indicates that the cycle is closing. On the other hand, it would not be logical for taxes on electricity companies to be transferred to consumption and keep inflation above 8% for this year. And although it is difficult for the political and social forces to sign an income policy in the pre-election period, we continue to ask ourselves why not.
All this is added to the Spanish success in energy diversification, in sources and in countries, which gives it a better situation than that of the rest of the EU countries, with enormous dependence on Russia.
If Europe enters a recession as a result of the strangulation of Russian gas, will Spain unquestionably enter this negative figure? The interconnections between the members of the Union appear increasingly close, however, they are not communicating vessels.
In the event that there are gas restrictions in European homes in the fall, from here it will be necessary to accept a price. But it has nothing to do with a decrease in GDP of 6% in Germany, for example, than between 0% and 1% in Spain. Despite the fact that European exports and tourism will suffer, the Institute of Economic Studies, the think tank of the CEOE, contemplates strong doses of uncertainty for this fall, but in no case a recessive situation. Uncertainty, yes; recession, no.
We were talking about the contribution of Spanish tungsten in both world wars. Historical extrapolations do not make sense when analyzing current things, but they help to interpret them. What if we were about to live, mutatis mutandi, something similar to that situation that made us an exception?
