[SMM Weekly Review] Cobalt Sulphate Spot Prices Continued to Rise Rapidly This Week

This week, spot prices for cobalt sulphate continued to rise rapidly. Supply side, the cobalt export quota policy announced by the DRC over the weekend heightened smelters' concerns about future raw material supply, leading enterprises to generally continue suspending quotations and further raising their intended selling prices. Among them, the intended price for cobalt sulphate produced from intermediate products has been raised to around 91,000-93,000 yuan/mt, while the intended prices for MHP and recycling enterprises have also generally increased to approximately 86,000-88,000 yuan/mt. Demand side, overall market changes were relatively small this week, with some cathode enterprises still conducting small-scale stockpiling due to concerns about potential cobalt supply shortages. However, ternary cathode precursor and Co3O4 enterprises, constrained by the rapid price increase of cobalt sulphate and their own orders not being fully locked in, remained cautious in their purchasing behavior. Overall, driven by the continuous rise in raw material costs and long-term stockpiling demand from downstream sectors, cobalt sulphate prices are expected to maintain a strong trend in the short term.

SMM New Energy Research Team

Cong Wang 021-51666838

Rui Ma 021-51595780

Disheng Feng 021-51666714

Yanlin Lü 021-20707875

Wenhao Xiao 021-51666872

Zhicheng Zhou 021-51666711