The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s strategic mineral regulatory authority announced on Sunday that the country will extend its ban on cobalt exports until October 15. The ban on cobalt exports will be lifted on October 16, at which point an annual export quota will be implemented. According to the announcement, mining companies will be allowed to export up to 18,125 tons of cobalt for the remainder of 2025, while the annual cap for 2026 and 2027 will be 96,600 tons each year.

　　After communicating with multiple industry insiders, reporters from Cai Lian She learned that most major producers of cobalt intermediates have already suspended their price quotations, and some manufacturers have even halted production due to factors such as a shortage of raw materials. If the ban on cobalt exports from the Democratic Republic of the Congo is extended, cobalt prices are expected to surge significantly in the short term. During interviews, Luoyang Molybdenum stated that it will carefully coordinate its resource release efforts with local policy realities to maximize the value of cobalt. Meanwhile, Hanrui Cobalt indicated that it is adopting a strategy of controlling order intake to manage its sales pace effectively. Currently, most domestic producers anticipate that their cobalt raw material inventories can last until around the end of the year.

　　According to the Cai Lian She thematic database, among the relevant listed companies:

　　Huayou Cobalt owns two nickel-cobalt hydrometallurgical projects in Indonesia—Huayue and Huafei—both of which have achieved stable and even exceeding production levels. In 2024, the company’s shipments of MHP (nickel-cobalt hydroxide) reached approximately 180,000 metric tons of nickel metal, with a cobalt content of about 18,000 metric tons.

　　Greenmei has a cobalt recovery capacity of 8,000 tons per year. Meanwhile, the company’s nickel smelting project in Indonesia has a total capacity of 150,000 metric tons of metal per year (including a 40,000-metric-ton-per-year capacity from its equity stake), with an associated cobalt resource output of approximately 10,000 metric tons per year.