China's cobalt metal price strengthened after China's National Day holiday (October 1-7) amid the rally in international benchmark metal price and a shortage of spot units. While the price gap between China domestic market and the international market narrowed, it is unlikely that the former will match the latter in the near future, sources told Fastmarkets.
Fastmarkets' price assessment for cobalt 99.8% Co min, ex-works China was at 396,000-406,000 yuan ($60,521-63,074) per tonne on Friday October 15, up by 6,000 yuan per tonne from 390,000-406,000 yuan per tonne on October 8.Taking both midpoint prices into consideration, China's cobalt metal price was equivalent to approximately $25.00 per lb on October 15, excluding China's value-added tax. The international benchmark metal midpoint price stood at approximately $26.78 per lb on October 15, at a premium of $1.77 per lb over Chinese price, narrowing from a premium of approximately $2.60...