Japan is currently facing a serious shortage of tungsten due to tighter export controls and ongoing political tensions.

Tungsten is widely used in Japanese fishing tackle — sinkers, jig heads, weights, spinnerbaits, and many other products.

The impact is now reaching the fishing industry.

Several Japanese tackle manufacturers are already having difficulty securing enough tungsten to continue production, and some tungsten products are being discontinued or becoming increasingly difficult to produce.

We are also finding it much harder to restock tungsten tackle than before.

If there are Japanese tungsten products you regularly use or have been thinking about buying, we strongly recommend securing them while they are still available.

Once current inventories are gone, we cannot say when — or even if — some products will return.

🇯🇵 Japanese tungsten tackle may become much harder to find.