Weekly Review and Forecast on China's Cobalt Market (Feb. 28-Mar. 3)

SHANGHAI, Feb. 25 (SMM) -- Oil price rallied due to the Middle East unrest, and investors turned to gold and silver as a safe heaven. In this context, prices for gold and silver surged. The advance of US dollar weighed on base metal prices, and LME cobalt prices experienced slight decline, but rebounded slightly later. However, cobalt prices released on MB website were still stable, lacking downward momentum. Wait-and-see sentiment still dominated market in the short term.

Increasing number of producers resumed operation after the Lantern Festival, and producers made purchases on an as-needed basis by virtue of relatively stable prices. The supply surplus hasn't changed, and downstream demand was not strong. In this context, prices face downward pressure. However, producers haven't fully resumed operation in February, and trading volumes will gradually improve in March. In this context, traded prices will remain stable in the short term.

SMM expects that traded prices will around RMB 330,000/mt for cobalt from Jinchuan Group, and will be in the RMB 71-73/kg for cobalt chloride, RMB 62-64/kg for cobalt sulfate, between RMB 231-233/kg for tricobalt tetroxide, and RMB 231-233/kg for lithium cobalt oxide in the following week.

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