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High-Nickel",144.45,149.67,-3.49,26.69,49.06,[498,499,500,502,504,506,508,510,512,514,516,518],{"date":188,"value":492},{"date":200,"value":493},{"date":202,"value":501},157.37,{"date":205,"value":503},160,{"date":208,"value":505},149.53,{"date":211,"value":507},141.97,{"date":214,"value":509},136.99,{"date":217,"value":511},129.81,{"date":220,"value":513},114.02,{"date":223,"value":515},109.17,{"date":226,"value":517},109.02,{"date":228,"value":519},99.44,{"publishedDate":188,"updateFrequency":189,"updateFrequencyText":190,"label":521,"today":522,"last":523,"percentageChange":524,"yearToDate":525,"yearOnYear":526,"oneYearIndexTrend":527,"url":377,"subscription":49,"isProtected":50,"hasAccess":51},"LFP",229.17,218.34,4.96,49.35,83.44,[528,529,530,532,534,536,538,540,542,544,546,548],{"date":188,"value":522},{"date":200,"value":523},{"date":202,"value":531},239.1,{"date":205,"value":533},258.32,{"date":208,"value":535},239.37,{"date":211,"value":537},213.01,{"date":214,"value":539},204.49,{"date":217,"value":541},218.06,{"date":220,"value":543},153.45,{"date":223,"value":545},134.02,{"date":226,"value":547},118.22,{"date":228,"value":549},111.93,{"id":551,"uuid":552,"name":553,"slug":554,"full_slug":555,"content":556,"relatedArticles":698,"relatedVideos":699},112474525477824,"5c1d5ccf-1bba-494c-8b8c-30563c344d60","Cobalt prices in bear territory after negative run","cobalt-prices-in-bear-territory-after-negative-run","article/cobalt-prices-in-bear-territory-after-negative-run",{"_uid":557,"date":558,"tags":559,"editor":560,"content":570,"excerpt":674,"featured":50,"reporter":675,"_editable":679,"component":680,"seo_title":553,"categories":681,"visibility":690,"author_company":49,"featured_image":691,"seo_description":674,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":696,"formattedArticleDate":697},"b3dd4d6a-84bf-4163-9c3c-bf528ffd0484","2018-08-06 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",[573,580,585,590,595,600,605,614,619,624,629,634,639,644,649,654,659,664,669],{"type":574,"attrs":575,"content":576},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[577],{"text":578,"type":579},"This past quarter was packed with news for the cobalt industry. The quarter saw legal action taken against Glencore in the DRC by both state miner Gécamines and ex-business partner Dan Gertler. While both were ultimately settled by the Swiss miner, the company’s legal woes only deepened as the resolution was followed by a subpoena issued by the US Government on 2nd July.","text",{"type":574,"attrs":581,"content":582},{"textAlign":49},[583],{"text":584,"type":579},"In addition, the quarter saw the $690m streaming deal for material from the Voisey’s Bay mine expansion, between Vale and partners Wheaton and Cobalt 27, importantly showing the intent of  the capital markets to secure longterm supplies of cobalt.",{"type":574,"attrs":586,"content":587},{"textAlign":49},[588],{"text":589,"type":579},"While all of the events above are significant in their own right, the most important story for the future of the industry has been the fall in prices over the course of the quarter. The Benchmark Cobalt Price Assessment tracked cobalt  sulphate prices in China down 9.8% in May and 7% in June, with the battery metal price down 1.4% and 7% respectively.",{"type":574,"attrs":591,"content":592},{"textAlign":49},[593],{"text":594,"type":579},"It was not that these price decreases were unexpected, in fact with such rapid rises in the first quarter, a significant portion of the active supply chain expected such a reaction. What was most important was how it exemplified that the cobalt industry can still be driven by sentiment, particularly in China. This article looks at the factors that influenced the price fall.",{"type":574,"attrs":596,"content":597},{"textAlign":49},[598],{"text":599,"type":579},"Benchmark asked Anthony Milewski, the Chairman, CEO & Director of Cobalt 27 for his thoughts on the recent fall in cobalt prices. He explained that “there is a perception among financial investors that cobalt has sold off and there is weakness in demand. Nothing could be further from the truth.”",{"type":574,"attrs":601,"content":602},{"textAlign":49},[603],{"text":604,"type":579},"“We see a tremendous increase in cobalt demand that is continuing quarter on quarter as EV and battery storage systems experience growth combined with strong demand from the aerospace industry.”",{"type":574,"attrs":606,"content":607},{"textAlign":49},[608,610,612],{"text":609,"type":579},"Sentiment driven price changes highlight that the cobalt market is still yet to mature and the need remains to not only understand the supply and demand fundamentals going forward but also requires boots on the ground to make sense of the changes in the supply chain, something ",{"text":611,"type":579},"Benchmark",{"text":613,"type":579}," prioritises above all else.",{"type":574,"attrs":615,"content":616},{"textAlign":49},[617],{"text":618,"type":579},"The key question is: why did prices fall?",{"type":574,"attrs":620,"content":621},{"textAlign":49},[622],{"text":623,"type":579},"Was it a lack of demand? No. Electric vehicle production (the key driver for demand growth) in China continues to grow rapidly. At the time of writing production figures were up in excess of 120% year-on- year with the rate of growth in production of EVs accelerating daily.",{"type":574,"attrs":625,"content":626},{"textAlign":49},[627],{"text":628,"type":579},"If I were to ask a Chinese cobalt refiner the same question the answer would be quite different. The perception in the industry throughout the quarter was that demand had been low and sentiment towards the electric vehicle industry had changed from extremely positive to (in some cases) notably bearish.",{"type":574,"attrs":630,"content":631},{"textAlign":49},[632],{"text":633,"type":579},"But in reality the situation was very different. All the metrics to track the industry other than price have been positive, and the longterm outlook fundamentals remain extremely strong.",{"type":574,"attrs":635,"content":636},{"textAlign":49},[637],{"text":638,"type":579},"So, what caused this change in sentiment? In Benchmark’s opinion a number of key events initiated the snowball effect that had a big impact on prices.",{"type":574,"attrs":640,"content":641},{"textAlign":49},[642],{"text":643,"type":579},"Towards the end of 2017 some parts of the upstream industry changed their payment terms and began to request payment upfront for cobalt products. Up until this point the supply chain has relied heavily on ‘industry credit’, meaning that companies were prepared to deliver cobalt material to their customers and invoice on delivery on good faith that the customer would pay under normal payment terms – 1-2 months from delivery for example.",{"type":574,"attrs":645,"content":646},{"textAlign":49},[647],{"text":648,"type":579},"Changing to upfront payments meant that certain parts of the supply chain were having to purchase their cobalt prior to delivery, go through the process of refining their material, sell to their customers downstream and wait another 1 to 2 months (plus) for final payment.",{"type":574,"attrs":650,"content":651},{"textAlign":49},[652],{"text":653,"type":579},"This had a big impact on cashflow for a number of companies and meant that they could no longer purchase in the normal quantities that they used to, which had a negative impact on buying patterns.",{"type":574,"attrs":655,"content":656},{"textAlign":49},[657],{"text":658,"type":579},"As we entered 2018, a number of companies reported that the little credit that was available via banks was starting to dry up, which was only exacerbated by the commencement of the trade war between the US and China. So, in turn the lack of available cash, combined with no credit gave the outward impression that demand was starting to fall, with many believing this to be related to a slower than expected EV production ramp-up and lack of consumer interest in EVs.",{"type":574,"attrs":660,"content":661},{"textAlign":49},[662],{"text":663,"type":579},"Following the bull run in prices in Q1 2018, Chinese refiners became jittery on pricing, fearing that a crash was on the horizon it began the  snowball effect of lowering prices in order to ensure a sale before the crash came.",{"type":574,"attrs":665,"content":666},{"textAlign":49},[667],{"text":668,"type":579},"The first signs of prices decreasing were in the sulphate market towards the end of Q1, metal prices were affected in April. As prices began to fall this started to ebb away at what were already low margins – hitting cashflow even further. At this point the bear market became a self-fulfilling prophecy and prices have continued to fall for both cobalt sulphate and cobalt metal.",{"type":574,"attrs":670,"content":671},{"textAlign":49},[672],{"text":673,"type":579},"This highlights how the cobalt industry is a small but complex beast, and that simply looking at the supply and demand fundamentals may not give you an accurate picture of how the industry will operate in the future.","This past quarter was packed with news for the cobalt industry. The quarter saw legal action taken against Glencore in the DRC by both state miner Gécamines and ex-business partner Dan Gertler. While both were ultimately settled by the Swiss miner, the company’s legal woes only deepened as the resolution was followed by a subpoena issued by the US Government on 2nd July. In addition, the […]",[676],{"slug":562,"name":563,"content":677},{"job_title":565,"image":678,"bio":568,"linkedin":569},{"filename":567},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"b3dd4d6a-84bf-4163-9c3c-bf528ffd0484\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[682,685,687],{"slug":683,"name":684},"batteries","Batteries",{"slug":686,"name":115},"cobalt",{"slug":688,"name":689},"critical-minerals","Critical Minerals","private",{"id":49,"alt":692,"name":692,"focus":692,"title":692,"source":692,"filename":693,"copyright":692,"fieldtype":694,"meta_data":695,"is_external_url":51},"","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/215526c100/bm-8858727e-b3d4-47bf-89ad-7d9a2052ecc6.jpg","asset",{"alt":692,"title":692,"source":692,"copyright":692},"Aug 06, 2018","6th August 2018",[],[],1789748880390]