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prices fall by a third since April ending two year price rally","cobalt-prices-fall-by-a-third-since-april-ending-two-year-price-rally","article/cobalt-prices-fall-by-a-third-since-april-ending-two-year-price-rally",{"_uid":557,"date":558,"tags":559,"editor":560,"content":570,"excerpt":683,"featured":50,"reporter":684,"_editable":688,"component":689,"seo_title":553,"categories":690,"visibility":696,"author_company":49,"featured_image":697,"seo_description":683,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":702,"formattedArticleDate":703},"1de7aabe-27c9-4552-bc5b-3129d60f5506","2022-08-12 00:00",[],[561],{"slug":562,"name":563,"content":564},"didi-bostock","Didi Bostock",{"job_title":565,"image":566,"bio":568,"linkedin":569},"Editor - Energy Transition & Economics",{"filename":567},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/512x512/2c5ca5c1a3/didi-bostock.jpeg","Didi is the Energy Transition & Economics Editor at Benchmark, covering a broad range of markets across the energy transition. His remit spans from downstream sectors such as BESS and EVs, through to midstream such as new technologies and battery production, to upstream critical minerals mining. He also leads on financial analysis across these supply chains, alongside in-depth policy analysis.\n","https://www.linkedin.com/in/didi-bostock-656342198/",{"type":571,"content":572},"doc",[573,580,585,590,595,600,605,612,617,622,627,636,641,646,663,668,673,678],{"type":574,"attrs":575,"content":576},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[577],{"text":578,"type":579},"Cobalt prices have fallen by a third since April as the Chinese market struggles to recover from China’s Covid-19 lockdowns, ending a two-year price rally for the metal.","text",{"type":574,"attrs":581,"content":582},{"textAlign":49},[583],{"text":584,"type":579},"Prices for cobalt metal are down by 28.6% since April when cobalt reached $39.85 a pound, the highest level since June 2018, ending a price rally that began in the middle of 2020, the latest data from Benchmark Cobalt Price Assessment shows. In July metal prices fell by 15% from a month earlier.",{"type":574,"attrs":586,"content":587},{"textAlign":49},[588],{"text":589,"type":579},"“Expectations are that cobalt prices will continue to fall. Market participants are holding off buying as they wait for more favourable prices,” said Cameron Hughes, analyst at Benchmark.",{"type":574,"attrs":591,"content":592},{"textAlign":49},[593],{"text":594,"type":579},"The slump in cobalt prices reflects the lingering impact of China’s strict Covid-19 lockdowns, which led to a rise in inventories this year as cities such as Shanghai were completely shut down. While Chinese electric vehicle and battery production has recovered, refiners have had sufficient inventory on hand to meet demand and have sold any spare material at substantial discounts to improve cash flow.",{"type":574,"attrs":596,"content":597},{"textAlign":49},[598],{"text":599,"type":579},"Benchmark forecasts the cobalt market to return to a marginal surplus in 2022 and remain well balanced until 2025.",{"type":574,"attrs":601,"content":602},{"textAlign":49},[603],{"text":604,"type":579},"“Demand has been curtailed so much because of the China lockdowns, a lot of refiners have surplus inventory that they want to offload and improve their cash flow,” Greg Miller, a senior price analyst at Benchmark, said.",{"type":606,"attrs":607,"content":609},"heading",{"level":608,"textAlign":49},4,[610],{"text":611,"type":579},"Supply increase",{"type":574,"attrs":613,"content":614},{"textAlign":49},[615],{"text":616,"type":579},"Cobalt supply is forecast to increase to 177,000 tonnes this year, a growth of 10% year-on-year. In contrast, Benchmark forecasts cobalt demand will reach 176,000 tonnes in 2022.",{"type":574,"attrs":618,"content":619},{"textAlign":49},[620],{"text":621,"type":579},"Output in the DRC, the world’s leading cobalt producer, is forecast to climb to 142,000 tonnes this year driven by the restart of Glencore’s Mutanda mine last year and capacity expansions at operational mines. Glencore’s cobalt production rose by 40% in the first of this year to 20,700 tonnes, compared to the same period a year earlier.",{"type":574,"attrs":623,"content":624},{"textAlign":49},[625],{"text":626,"type":579},"In Indonesia, two operating HPAL nickel processing projects are forecast to produce more than 6,000 tonnes of cobalt contained in MHP this year.",{"type":574,"attrs":628,"content":629},{"textAlign":49},[630,632,634],{"text":631,"type":579},"Still, exports from China Moly’s Tenke Fungurume mine in the DRC were halted in July due to a dispute between the company and the country’s state-owned miner ",{"text":633,"type":579},"Gécamines",{"text":635,"type":579},", which could limit supply from the country if the ban is maintained.",{"type":606,"attrs":637,"content":638},{"level":608,"textAlign":49},[639],{"text":640,"type":579},"Heading lower",{"type":574,"attrs":642,"content":643},{"textAlign":49},[644],{"text":645,"type":579},"In July, cobalt metal prices fell to $28.55 per pound at the midpoint of the range, a decrease of 15.4% month-on-month.",{"type":574,"attrs":647,"content":648},{"textAlign":49},[649,651,653,661],{"text":650,"type":579},"The decline was even steeper in cobalt sulphate and hydroxide prices, which fell by 24.4% and 21.4% respectively in July compared to a month earlier. Cobalt sulphate prices are trading at their lowest levels since ",{"text":652,"type":579},"January 2021, according to Benchmark’s ",{"text":654,"type":579,"marks":655},"Cobalt Price Assessment",[656],{"type":657,"attrs":658},"link",{"href":659,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":660},"https://www.benchmarkminerals.com/contact/","url",{"text":662,"type":579},".  ",{"type":574,"attrs":664,"content":665},{"textAlign":49},[666],{"text":667,"type":579},"The combination of poor demand and limited spot market activity pushed cobalt hydroxide payables to their lowest levels recorded by Benchmark, trading between 55% and 66%.",{"type":574,"attrs":669,"content":670},{"textAlign":49},[671],{"text":672,"type":579},"Hughes said demand for electric vehicles in China, the world’s biggest EV market, is yet to bounce back to levels before the near two-months lockdowns that began in late March and was a key trigger for the sell off.",{"type":574,"attrs":674,"content":675},{"textAlign":49},[676],{"text":677,"type":579},"“Once prices started falling, everyone went into a bearish mindset,” Hughes said, adding that prices in the Chinese domestic metal continue to push down prices in Europe and are often trading $4 to $5 a pound lower than the international benchmark.",{"type":574,"attrs":679,"content":680},{"textAlign":49},[681],{"text":682,"type":579},"Cobalt metal prices last touched an all-time high in April 2018 followed by a significant correction.","Cobalt prices have fallen by a third since April as the Chinese market struggles to recover from China’s Covid-19 lockdowns, ending a two-year price rally for the metal. Prices for cobalt metal are down by 28.6% since April when cobalt reached $39.85 a pound, the highest level since June 2018, ending a price rally that […]",[685],{"slug":562,"name":563,"content":686},{"job_title":565,"image":687,"bio":568,"linkedin":569},{"filename":567},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"1de7aabe-27c9-4552-bc5b-3129d60f5506\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[691,693],{"slug":692,"name":115},"cobalt",{"slug":694,"name":695},"critical-minerals","Critical Minerals","private",{"id":49,"alt":698,"name":698,"focus":698,"title":698,"source":698,"filename":699,"copyright":698,"fieldtype":700,"meta_data":701,"is_external_url":51},"","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/19a4024684/bm-glencore-ktanaga-copper-mine-drc41.jpg","asset",{"alt":698,"title":698,"source":698,"copyright":698},"Aug 12, 2022","12th August 2022",[],[],1792773924849]