Cobalt Market
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September 2023 –The world's foremost derivatives marketplace, CME Group, on September 16th disclosed that it will introduce Cobalt Hydroxide futures on October 23rd, imminent all applicable regulatory reviews. This is the fourth battery metals futures contract CME Group has introduced in answer to growing hedging requirements within the quickly rising electric vehicle space. The Managing Director and Global Head of Metals at CME Group, Jin Chang Hennig, said that CME Group is happy to provide market participants in the global battery supply chain more hedging granularity with a cobalt hydroxide contract. He further added that with growing demand, it has become more crucial to manage the price risk between global and local hydroxide prices and standard-grade cobalt metal offered in China, where hydroxide is refined into battery-grade material. Cobalt Hydroxide prospects will be monetarily settled based on the Fastmarkets' cobalt hydroxide price evaluation. The CEO of Fastmarkets, Raju Daswani, said that growing battery raw material markets and electric vehicle development persist in driving demand for hedging mechanisms with the cobalt supply chain. The introduction of the CME Group cobalt hydroxide prospects agreement, based on Fastmarkets' cobalt hydroxide price, guarantees market members have another tool to mitigate risk as these markets develop. Cobalt Hydroxide commodities correspond to Cobalt Metal futures, which have become the global benchmark for Cobalt costs, introduced in December 2020. Trading in Cobalt Metal prospects has by now exceeded its net trading volume in 2022, with nearly 21,000 contracts traded year-to-date.
Key Players
The prominent players in the global cobalt Umicore (Belgium), Glencore (Switzerland), Jinchuan Group International Resources Co. Ltd (Hong Kong), Huayou Cobalt Co., Ltd (China), Freeport Cobalt (Finland), Sherritt International Corporation (Canada), BHP (Australia), Eramet (France), Vale (Brazil), Votorantim Metais SA (Brazil), and Sumitomo Corporation (Japan), among others.