Congo's cobalt ban leaves Glencore with unsold stockpiles

Image credit: Reuters

DRC, the world's top cobalt supplier, imposed a four-month suspension on exports in February after prices hit a nine-year low, and then extended it by three months in June.

The export ban aimed to curb the global cobalt oversupply, while the extension gave the government more time to work out how to distribute export quotas among mining companies.

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"The extension of the export ban is expected to significantly tighten cobalt availability and accelerate inventory drawdowns, providing support to prices," Glencore said in its first-half results statement.

The company informed an analyst call that it was being "quite conservative" about its assumptions, and there would be no material effect on its financial results even if it were unable to sell any cobalt from the DRC for the rest of the year.

If some volumes start to move, it would be an upside, it added.

Glencore, the world's second-largest cobalt-producing company, declared force majeure on some deliveries of cobalt from the DRC earlier this year, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters in June.

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The company stated that it had been stockpiling its DRC cobalt production in the country since the export ban was imposed. It did not say how much cobalt had been stockpiled.

In January-June, Glencore's total cobalt output from its sources rose 19% year on year to 18,900 metric tonnes. Its 2025 production outlook is 42,000-45,000 tonnes, up from 38,200 tonnes in 2024.