[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 rise. On the supply side, cobalt intermediate product resources are currently relatively concentrated, and miners are still suspending their quotations. Over the weekend, customs data was released, showing a significant pullback in China's imports of cobalt intermediate products in June, further strengthening market expectations of tight raw material supply. Traders, bullish on the market, continued to raise their quotations, and reported that a small amount of transactions for mainstream brands occurred near the price range of $12.5-12.6/lb. On the demand side, smelters are facing difficulties such as production cost losses and weak downstream demand. Most enterprises are mainly consuming their own inventories, while some smelters with relatively low inventories reported that the current cost losses are too severe. If they cannot purchase cobalt intermediate products at low prices, they will choose to purchase other cobalt raw materials as substitutes or opt for production cuts or even shutdowns. 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 rise 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