By Pratima Desai
London (Reuters) – US companies buy cobalt metal produced in Indonesia by Chinese lygic resources that do not encourage the prices placed by the Trump administration on imports directly from China, three direct sources of the issue said.
President Donald Trump has imposed additional import prices on Chinese products since his entry into office in January, as well as for samples from the Calon Canada Commerce Partner, another key source of Cobalt, used in aerospace, for the United States
Cobalt’s Metal production from Lygend in Indonesia has preceding the latest prices, according to industry sources, with the cobalt produced by the group of the country exported for the first time in the United States last year by merchants with American customers.
But merchants shipping its cobalt use tariff status in Indonesia to sell metal at a lower cost to American customers faced with samples from Chinese and Canadian supply, sources said.
“American consumers can obtain cheaper cobalt from Lygends – metal comes from Indonesia and not from China,” said a source from the cobalt industry. “Now there are prices on Canadian imports, more American buyers will turn to Indonesia.”
Lygend did not respond to requests for comments.
Chinese companies dominate cobalt production in Indonesia, where it is a sub-product of nickel.
Although still small, cobalt metal sales have more than doubled by January compared to the first deliveries in November, going to 121 of 58 metric tonnes, with a total of three months of 290 tonnes worth 9.6 million dollars, according to data from the Data Monitor (CT).
Cobalt shipments to the United States directly from China, the best world producer, dropped after US President Trump during his first mandate imposed a 10% deduction from Chinese imports in 2018 and increased it to 25% in 2019.
With the latest increase of 10%, American importers should pay 35% prices on cobalt shipments of Chinese origin, which is used in electric vehicle batteries and in defense equipment.
Darton Commodities, a specialized supplier of Cobalt Metal, estimates that the production of cobalt undermined in Indonesia has totaled 30,920 tonnes or 11% of world supplies last year, against 18,900 tonnes or 8% respectively in 2023.
Canadian Cobalt metal exports last year at more than 1,700 tonnes represented 18% of the total sent to the United States, according to TDM, making it the fourth metal source for American consumers.
The mounting supplies of Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) contributed to the global surplus of cobalt, which lowered prices at nine years by $ 10 per LB or $ 22,000 per tonne in February.
