Frank Dietsche -Mr. Melcher, you and Boehlerit organized and moderated the annual conference of the European precision tool manufacturers, the ECTA, in Graz. What is your conclusion about the event?
Gerhard Melcher With 130 participants from 11 nations, making it the largest conference in our industry worldwide in 2026, it has shown that despite the difficult global conditions, the order intake in the precision tool industry has been slightly increasing again since the end of 2025.
Especially in networking among industry leaders and professionals from different regions of Europe, the USA, and South Korea, optimism and contacts within the ECTA have been further strengthened.
Graz as the venue, with its old town, Austrian history, culture, culinary offerings with Styrian wines, and southern flair, as well as being one of the most innovative regions in Europe, positively surprised many participants.
FD You have put together a very interesting lecture program for the conference. Topics such as politics, regulations, human resources, tool management, automotive trends, and AI were intensively explored. Why did you choose these topics?
Gerhard Melcher - The explosive increase in costs and the availability of raw materials, especially tungsten, are currently hitting the precision tool industry hard due to the 80% dependence on China – we wanted to provide an outlook on this. Another 'raw material' – skilled personnel – is developing into an ever-greater bottleneck in Europe due to demographic changes. AI can and will provide relief here, but it will also lead to significant changes in our working world. The oil of the future will be data, and tools will be part of the system according to the lecture on tool management.
And last but not least, the politically desired rapid transformation from combustion engines to electric motors has significantly reduced the machining potential for years. Here, Dr. Fraidl, a leading senior consultant from AVL List GmbH (one of the world's largest engine developers), was able to alleviate some concerns of the machining industry with his presentation, as electric drives will gradually continue to grow, but the much larger share will be hybrid engines – which will increase the machining potential again.
FD - In the contributions from ECTA President Federico Costa and Stefan Zecha as President of VDMA Precision Tools, the topic of carbide and raw material prices concerning tungsten was presented. How do you personally assess the situation?
Gerhard Melcher - Tungsten prices have more than sextupled in the last 10 months.
In addition to export restrictions from China, demand for tungsten has also increased, especially in the defense and semiconductor industries. We have long since exceeded the price that the market can bear. To alleviate this, intensive work is being done on tungsten mines in the West. However, these projects take at least two years. A ray of hope is that a mine in South Korea was already opened at the end of December 2025, and the share of recycling has already risen to over 50%. Furthermore, the limited recycling capacities are being further expanded.
We have probably already reached the peak for APT (Ammonium Paratungstate) at USD 3280 (as of May 25, 2026), which is now slightly declining (USD 3180 as of June 1, 2026). I expect a further stabilization of prices, but no return to the initial level of under USD 500.
Carbide scrap must be collected more consistently in Europe and only offered to European carbide manufacturers.
Carbide scrap prices were already over €130/kg but have halved again in the short term. However, I am convinced that as the filled warehouses of recycling companies empty, scrap prices will rise again.
The availability of tungsten and independence from China are crucial. There is strong work being done on this, so I am optimistic about a stabilization of the market in the next 18 months.
FD - Outside of the presentations, a lot was talked about and discussed. A lively European networking of precision tool manufacturers. Has the ECTA conference thus achieved its goal?
Gerhard Melcher - We hit the mark with the topics, presentations, location, but also with the culinary offerings and the excellent Styrian wines.
The feedback from participants about the successful ECTC 2026 Graz was overwhelming.
The success was contributed to not only by the participants but also by the many sponsors and the VDMA.
FD - Your company, BOEHLERIT based in Kapfenberg, is a specialist in the production of cutting materials, semi-finished products, and precision tools as well as tool systems for milling, turning, or drilling. How does your company deal with the situation?
Gerhard Melcher - As Boehlerit, we have never sourced our raw materials from China. This allowed us to secure our tungsten needs from our Western suppliers even in 2026. Boehlerit is one of the leading companies in heavy machining. Particularly, areas such as turning and milling of blank steel for the aerospace industry and defense are performing very well. We are leading in the large crankshaft machining for gas turbines – which are used for quantum computers for power generation for AI. The energy sector for pipe processing is also picking up.
On the other hand, in the area of turning and milling in general mechanical engineering, business is stagnating due to the market situation.
The semi-finished product sector is also doing very well due to good raw material availability at Boehlerit.
Markets like the USA and India are developing positively.
Southern Europe is currently developing better than Central Europe. Northern Europe is stable.
The current growth is partly due to well-utilized niches but also due to panic orders from customers, due to price protection from volatile raw material developments or securing the availability of carbide products.
FD - Where do you see the most important points of approach for the future?
Gerhard Melcher - Raw material security, qualified personnel, data quality, digitization, proper use of AI, robotics, international production sites (reducing costs, energy, and personnel), and a strong sales network.
FD - Can politics or the European Union provide support to manufacturers in this raw material dilemma?
Gerhard Melcher - Not can, but must. A framework should be created so that no tungsten is exported to China, and bureaucracy is reduced to facilitate the import of carbide scrap from abroad. Furthermore, lobbying by umbrella organizations such as CECIMO or VDMA in Brussels must be strengthened. Tungsten is an extremely important strategic raw material for Europe.
FD - In autumn, the AMB 2026 will take place in Stuttgart. Do you expect changes regarding the products of exhibitors and the requirements of visitors due to the current geopolitical situation?
Gerhard Melcher - The AMB has developed into the leading trade fair for precision tool manufacturers in Europe. Trade fairs have evolved into a communication platform in recent years, where products are no longer the main focus.
The number of visitors will continue to decline slightly, as companies will send a maximum of two visitors per company to the fair instead of four. This will further improve the quality of contacts.
Digital product presentations will increase, but it remains important that a competent contact person is available for visitors at the booth.
Not only hard facts are important; soft facts such as the well-being experience for the trade fair visitor at the booth play an increasingly significant role in distinguishing from competitors.
FD - And what can visitors expect at the Boehlerit booth?
Gerhard Melcher - Of course, there will also be product innovations such as a new turning generation for steel processing – under the motto Together Turning Towards the Future – or a new high-feed milling cutter despite negative
Tool design with economical 8 cutting edges at highly positive chip lead angles for low cutting forces. The broad product portfolio will be presented primarily digitally.
The joint booth with our sister company Bilz will also showcase the latest shrink technology at the booth.
For the well-being factor for our trade fair visitors at our booth, we will serve excellent Styrian white wines and the pumpkin seed parfait, which is well-known beyond the industry.
AMB Boehlerit at the AMB 2026 in Hall 1, Stand H10.
Thank you very much for the conversation
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