Cobalt prices to hover at low level in Q1 2020

Asian Metal: Thank you for accepting our interview, Ms. Long. Please give us a brief introduction of your company.

Ms. Long: Located in Zhuzhou, Hunan, the hometown of nonferrous metals, and founded in 1991, Zhuzhou Dingli with convenient transportation has become a plant covering an area of more than 8,000 square meters from a pure trading company and specializes in production, development and research of cobalt powder. Based on the principles of being down-to-earth, doing business solidly as well as quality and honor first, the company focuses on hi-tech research and development and steadily marches forward to a larger scale, more diverse products and stronger talent management. Our sales volume rose steadily in recent years and our company was listed as one of top 100 Zhuzhou medium and small-sized enterprises in 2011, for which we are more popular and competitive in the industry.

Asian Metal: Please introduce your main business and projects.

Ms. Long: Zhuzhou Dingli specializes in the production of spherical cobalt powder and has an annual production capacity of 1,000 tons. Being fine-grained and narrow-distributed, our product targets at cemented carbide industry and is widely used to produce CNC cutting blade, bar, anvil, geological and mining tools and other cemented carbide products. Especially in anvil field, we become a core supplier and have a high market share of 90% in China.

Asian Metal: The supply of cobalt powder is relatively concentrated now, so what are your advantages and features in production process?

Ms. Long: The competition in cobalt powder market is really fierce at present. Differing from other producers, we have been in cooperation with Xiangtan University and have developed spherical cobalt powder of coarse, medium and superfine grains with our unique hydrometallurgical process. By meeting various customers' needs with different specifications of products, we have won some popularity in the industry.

Asian Metal: May I know your key layout and planning in the future?

Ms. Long: Relocation is required by Zhuzhou government and we are still negotiating the new site with the government. After the relocation, we will increase the annual production capacity to over 1,500 tons and put emphasis on cemented carbide industry.

Asian Metal: Domestic and overseas market players hold different views on cobalt market trend in 2020. What are your opinions about cobalt prices in Q1 2020?

Ms. Long: Chinese New Year came in Q1 and short-term demand after the holiday wouldn't increase, so I'm of the opinion that prices would hover at a low level or stand relatively stable in Q1.

Asian Metal: The demand for cobalt from new energy industry is weak presently while demand from 3C market and alloy industry doesn't increase notably. When will demand for cobalt turn better in your view?

Ms. Long: Affected by the decrease in subsidy, new energy vehicle market doesn't develop as expected and demand will keep weak in short term. However, new energy development is the general trend. European market sent a positive signal for new energy recently and demand for battery from new energy bicycle and tricycle increases in China. In addition, the popularization of 5G will result in a better 3C market. Thus, I believe that cobalt prices may go up in the second half of 2020.