Cobalt sees production cuts and logistic disruptions
According to Roskill, cobalt demand growth is expected to slow down in 2020, as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted some of the key consumption areas, particularly in aerospace-related applications.
In the battery industry, cobalt is also likely to face challenges ahead as end consumers remain keen to engineer cobalt out of cathode formulations owing to cost and ESG concerns.
Despite the COVID headwinds from aerospace and the thrift use of cobalt in the automotive sector, Roskill forecast a steady growth in cobalt demand in the coming decade. What industries will have the potential to drive the future growth in cobalt market?
The supply side has so far appeared to become more vulnerable than demand to COVID impacts with production cuts and logistic disruptions weighing on an already tightened market after Mutanda’s closure.
Prices for both cobalt feedstocks and refined products have rebounded since Q3 this year after experiencing years’ long weakness owing to the growing tightness in feedstock availability.
Roskill’s new Cobalt: Outlook to 2030 report was published on 29 October 2020, and addresses the opportunities and challenges facing the cobalt market over the next decade. The report provides a deep-dive analysis on the industry with a 10-year forecast and quarterly updates keeping pace with industry developments.
