[SMM analysis] overseas alloy market demand has not yet recovered the price of electrolytic cobalt or will continue to decline.

SMM, May 31:

At present, the price of electrolytic cobalt in the overseas market is 14.75 U.S. dollars / lb, which is basically stable compared with the previous week, but there is still no transaction in the spot market. Due to the lack of full resumption of work in the overseas downstream superalloy industry and the weak market demand for electrolytic cobalt, it is expected that overseas cobalt prices will still have downward space in the later stage.

Europe and the United States are the main consumer markets for electrolytic cobalt. The annual consumption of cobalt in China is less than 10, 000 tons, while that in overseas markets is about 15000 tons. Affected by the new crown epidemic, overseas aerospace and other places that need to use a large number of alloy products have hardly been consumed in recent months, and the market demand for electrolytic cobalt has been greatly reduced. Although the European government has made great efforts to promote the resumption of factories, according to feedback from SMM customers, the operating rate of factories in Europe is still on the low side.

Although recently, the price of electrolytic cobalt in China has continued to rise to 25-260000 yuan / ton (about 14.1 murals US $14.7 / lb) and gradually stabilized, but in fact there are few purchases in the spot market. The rebound in domestic prices is mainly due to the inflow of some funds into the market, while the major large consumers have enough raw materials in the metal cobalt price of 22-230000 yuan / ton (about 12.4 Mel 13.0 U.S. dollars / lb), and the existing inventory can still support the use of about 2 Mel for 3 months.

At present, the price gap of electrolytic cobalt at home and abroad has narrowed, the import and export window has not been opened, and the downstream demand of both markets is weak, and prices are lack of support. The downstream construction of metal cobalt in overseas market is slow, but the upstream supply has been restored one after another. Some suppliers revealed that there are almost no downstream enquiries in the spot market, and there are no orders for spot quotations to only about $14.2 / lb, and overseas electrolytic cobalt prices are expected to fall by about $0.50 / lb in the short term.