This week, spot prices for refined cobalt rose rapidly. On the supply side, raw materials were tight, with smelters refraining from offering quotes or making shipments. After the electronic trading platform surged, traders' willingness to cash in increased, and stockpilers sought to take profits. Some hedging positions actively released cargo due to margin call pressures, causing the spot-futures price spread in the trading sector to gradually narrow, with some cargo offers deeply discounted. On the demand side, alloy and magnetic material plants faced losses as end-user prices had not risen in sync, leading them to postpone purchases amid strong wait-and-see sentiment. This round of price increases may have been driven by capital sentiment, with no substantial improvement in fundamentals, warranting caution against the risk of a price pullback in the future.
SMM New Energy Research Team
Wang Cong 021-51666838
Ma Rui 021-51595780
Feng Disheng 021-51666714
Lü Yanlin 021-20707875
Xiao Wenhao 021-51666872
Wang Zhaoyu 021-51666827
Zhang Haohan 021-51666752
Wang Zihan 021-51666914
Wang Jie 021-51595902
Xu Yang 021-51666760
Yang Lianting 021-51595835
