[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. Some enterprises reported that the price of low-priced goods had reached 12.3-12.4, while the quoted price of high-priced goods was below 13. On the supply side, cobalt intermediate product resources are currently relatively concentrated. Miners are still suspending their quotations, and traders continue to raise their quotations amid expectations of a price increase. On the demand side, smelters are facing difficulties such as production cost losses and weak downstream demand. Given the uncertain future situation, most enterprises are primarily consuming their own inventories. Some smelters with relatively low inventories are inquiring about prices in the market, but due to their quotations still being lower than those of sellers, market transactions remain relatively low. Overall, affected 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

Wang Cong 021-51666838

Ma Rui 021-51595780

Feng Disheng 021-51666714

Lv Yanlin 021-20707875

Xiao Wenhao 021-51666872

Zhou Zhicheng 021-51666711