[SMM survey] Emergency shutdown of cobalt metal in CTT, Morocco

SMM3, 25th:

Due to the rapid spread of the new epidemic overseas, governments have issued relevant policies to control the spread of the epidemic. South Africa in the African region closed for 21 days, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (gold) copper and cobalt production province Katanga province for 24 hours, the Moroccan government also issued an emergency decree on the evening of March 23 to suspend the production of CTT metal cobalt.

According to SMM, CTT of Morocco can produce 160 tons of cobalt at full capacity per month. Due to the spread of the current epidemic, the company is currently unable to confirm whether it will be able to start work normally after 14 days of production suspension. Africa is a global source of cobalt raw materials, and if the epidemic is not under control, other cobalt producers such as Ambatovi and Sherit are expected to stop production at a later stage. As a result, the global supply of cobalt will gradually decline; on the other hand, the demand for cobalt downstream alloys and batteries has not increased and suppressed. CTT thinks the price of cobalt will continue to dip in the short term.

Current overseas metal cobalt prices fell to about $16 / lb, but orders in the downstream market are sporadic, and demand providers are generally bearish in the future. SMM expects overseas cobalt prices to continue to fall to about $14-15 a pound.