South African exports still constrained amid Covid-19 restrictions

Shipments of metals, ores and alloys from South Africa in the week to Thursday January 14 were still subject to delays and logistical disruptions caused by Covid-19-related restrictions.

Chrome deliveries to the port of Maputo in Mozambique have been severely disrupted over the past two weeks amid queues as long as 25km at Lebombo, a major land border crossing. And the cobalt intermediates payable soared to a record high due to congestion at land borders in South Africa, where most cobalt that is mined in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) goes to be shipped.
Fastmarkets' assessment of the cobalt hydroxide payable indicator, min 30% Co, cif China, % payable of Fastmarkets' standard-grade cobalt price (low end), rose to 88-90% on January 13, up by 2% from 86-88.5% on January 8. This week's value was the highest assessed for the indicator since its launch in January 2019.
"Cargoes out of South Africa have a little bit more uncertainty built into the price at the moment," an upstream cobalt market source told Fastmarkets.

Much of the disruption in the...

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