Cobalt hydroxide buyers' preference for spot and short-term procurement will persist, adding spot liquidity to the cobalt raw materials market next year, Fastmarkets understands.
Chinese cobalt consumers demonstrated continued appetite to commit to long-term contracts during Antaike's annual International Nickel & Cobalt Conference in Yichang on November 5-6, which is an event where suppliers and consumers traditionally negotiate long-term contracts for cobalt hydroxide. The contract talks took place just ahead of Glencore's planned closure of its Mutanda mining operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) by the end of this year. The closure will remove some 24,000 tonnes per year of cobalt from the market in 2020 and 2021. Interest to secure long-term procurement also emerged after Glencore agreed to supply Chinese cobalt producer GEM with 13,200 tonnes of cobalt contained in hydroxide in 2020, and 12,000 tonnes of the units per year in the following four years. The Glencore-GEM deal will destock at least 61,200 tonnes of cobalt hydroxide supply from the former's outlet in the next half decade, reviving other consumers' fears of...