Global cobalt investment horizon outlook Q4 2023

With elevated hydroxide stocks in the DRC and surging MHP supply coming from Indonesia, the cobalt feedstock market will remain in oversupply in the near term. To meet the growing demand from battery and alloy applications, base case mine supply alone will be unable to close the demand-supply gap after 2029, requiring the addition of mine projects and the large-scale utilisation of battery recycling. While the bottleneck for adding new refining capacity is yet on the horizon, there is a growing need for refineries to become more versatile to handle a variety of feedstock materials.