This may not sound like a big deal, but it was the first LME warranting of the battery metal since February 2022.
This is good news for the LME, but bad news for the cobalt market. The appearance of so much metal at the dormant market of last resort is a sign of chronic global supply glut.The super-charged rally of 2017-2018, when LME three-month cobalt peaked above $95,000 per ton, generated an overwhelming supply surge that sent the market tumbling all the way back to $26,000 in 2019.
China’s CMOC Group overtook Glencore as the world’s largest cobalt producer last year, with output of 55,000 tons. Ever more Indonesian capacity is being added. The Institute was tracking only 10 nickel-cobalt processing plant projects in 2023. The number has risen to nearly 60 this year, it said in its annual market report.Cobalt has historically been used in the form of super-alloys with applications in the aircraft and aerospace industries.
Analysts at Adams Intelligence estimate 5,026 tons of cobalt were deployed globally in new vehicle sales in May, a year-on-year rise of 12%. The CME, which launched its cobalt contract in 2020, has seen activity mushroom as the price has fallen steadily from its most recent peak.
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