SMM8, March 31-with the growing demand for electric vehicles, China seems to be dominant in the cobalt sector. The price of cobalt has risen sharply in recent years. Cobalt hit a high of $43.32 a pound and hit about $29.14 a pound on Aug. 20, 2018. Despite price fluctuations, overall cobalt prices are still rising strongly. (Darton Commodities Limited), a Darden commodities company, estimates that global demand for cobalt will exceed 120000 tons a year by 2020, up about 30 per cent from 93950 tons in 2016.

The global hybrid and electric vehicle market grew 33.2 per cent to $105.6 billion in 2017, while consumption rose 33.5 per cent year-on-year to 3.7 million vehicles, according to MarketLine. Electricity

China already has a lot of control over the global supply of cobalt, but it is likely to step up controls. In March 2018, China reached an agreement with Glencore (Glencore), the largest cobalt producer, to sell 52800 tons of cobalt hydroxide (about 1/3 of its production) to Chinese chemical companies within three years.

And China is also concerned about the resource markets of African countries, because supplies from the West are often subject to political and economic influence.

Status of the Global Cobalt supply chain

At present, more than 60% of the world's cobalt is mined in the Congo. However, problems such as child labour and political instability have also led to a lot of talk about the supply of cobalt to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the global market. An activity carried out by Amnesty International found that about 40,000 children were working as artisanal miners in the Congo, some of them as young as four years old. Access to cobalt reserves is further limited by the eagerness of many companies to avoid any ethical problems in the supply chain.

Manufacturers are also trying to develop products such as solid-state batteries in anticipation of a supply crisis for cobalt.

Fundamentally speaking, cobalt is still one of the most important decisive factors in the development of electric vehicles.

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