Raw materials: “The DRC is blocking cobalt”

The Republic of Congo (DRC) is playing for extra time. On Saturday, June 21, the country announced a three-month extension to its cobalt export suspension. The goal: to keep control of the blue metal. And, in doing so, to hopefully increase its value. These drastic new trade rules were set in February. Since then, the DRC has been blocking cobalt.

It's true that the blue metal, which was soaring at stratospheric heights in the spring of 2022, even surpassing the ceiling of $80,000 per ton, has since plummeted. It was on the verge of approaching $21,000 per ton at the beginning of the year. A devastating downturn for the finances of producing countries.

However, nearly three-quarters of cobalt volumes are extracted from the rich subsoil of the DRC, a country where mining conditions are tainted by corruption and the use of child labor. The government therefore decided to call time on the game in early March . Since it changed the rules, cobalt has rebounded. As of Friday, July 4, it was trading at $33,335 per ton on the London Metal Exchange. That's an increase of nearly 60%.

Attracted by the Congolese jackpot, the Chinese group CMOC has, it is true, shifted into overdrive in recent years in the DRC, extracting copper and cobalt, a by-product of the red metal in mines. To the point of dethroning the Swiss Glencore as the world's leading cobalt producer. This acceleration in production has ultimately unbalanced the market.

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