[SMM Weekly Review] The spot price of cobalt intermediate products continued to rise this week

This week, the spot price of cobalt intermediate products continued to maintain an upward trend. On the supply side, a miner declared force majeure this week, further strengthening the bullish sentiment of mines and traders. Most enterprises still suspended their quotations, while a few enterprises that provided quotations further increased them. On the demand side, smelters faced difficulties such as losses in production costs and weak downstream demand. Given the uncertain future situation, they temporarily suspended procurement and focused on consuming their own inventory. Some smelters with relatively low inventory levels attempted to inquire about prices in the market, but due to significant price differences between buyers and sellers, actual transactions remained difficult. Overall, influenced by the DRC's extension policy, China's cobalt intermediate products will still face a shortage of raw materials in the future, and there is upward momentum in prices. However, during this process, attention needs to be paid to the inhibition of downstream demand caused by the increase in raw material prices.

SMM New Energy Research Team

Cong Wang 021-51666838

Rui Ma 021-51595780

Disheng Feng 021-51666714

Yanlin Lv 021-20707875

Wenhao Xiao 021-51666872

Zhicheng Zhou 021-51666711