Cobalt salt plants will report sharp decline in operating rates during CNY, raw material shortage may affect future production

SHANGHAI, Feb 3 (SMM) — According to SMM survey, many small cobalt salt factories will shut down for CNY, which may affect about 10-13% of supply.

Import volume of cobalt intermediate products are expected to fall sharply in February due to logistics restrictions, but this may have little impact on production schedules of smelters in the short term. However, in the long run, if supply problems continue, domestic cobalt intermediate product inventory will remain in shortfall over the next few months, and cobalt concentrates and refined cobalt will be insufficient to make up for the supply deficit, which may affect production schedules of smelters.