As consumer inventories of cobalt start to run low, their metal restocking alone is unlikely to establish a floor in ailing prices, such is the believed extent of the surplus, Fastmarkets' market sources said.
The availability of alumina hydrate in the North American market was not expected to be a problem in 2019 despite producer Norsk Hydro's Alunorte bauxite mine in northern Brazil still running at half-capacity, market participants have told Fastmarkets.