Spot cobalt prices were slightly higher last week as sales of 99.8% Co were reported at $13.25-13.80. One trader who sold at the high end of the quote said he was lucky to have exactly what the consumer was looking for. While some traders continue to talk of Chinese traders selling cobalt in the low $12s per lb, others note that concentrates are tight in China and as a result, China has boosted its metal imports. China imported large quantities of cobalt concentrates from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) during the last few years, and according to some analysts, built large cobalt stocks. Those stocks, a trader said, have been whittled down and there is a slight tightness for concentrate with 6-8% Co. Cobalt hydroxide, he admitted, still is plentiful.

 

The announcement in early April that the DRC planned to ban exports of copper and cobalt concentrates (Ryan’s Notes, Apr. 29, p1) gave cobalt prices a nudge upward even though the governor of Katanga said he would not enforce the ban and even though the DRC has been consistently unsuccessful in stopping exports over the years.

 

The concentrate tightness in China does not seem related to DRC’s proposed export ban, and it is not having much influence on metal prices. Chinese processors are less concerned about the export ban, one trader said, than they are about Freeport shipping all the cobalt hydroxide from its Tenke operation in the DRC to the Kokkola, Finland refinery it recently purchased from OM Group (Ryan’s Notes, Apr. 8, p3). It is unlikely that much Tenke hydroxide will make its way to China, said a trader.

Few Chinese cobalt metal producers, with the exception of Jinchuan, have been successful, one analyst said. Without captive concentrate, the producers need a steady source of low-priced concentrate. Even if the producers are able to produce metal cost effectively, said a trader, they have to win the confidence of exacting consumers, and this takes time.