Global refined cobalt supply totaled 85,904 mt in 2013, up around 11% from 77,189 mt in 2012, the Cobalt Development Institute said Wednesday in the latest edition of its cobalt news publication.
The report, based on the main sources reporting their production, said that production from CDI members came in at 38,856 mt, some 2,602 mt, or 7% higher then the same producers in 2012.
"This was largely a result of the Ambatovy production coming on stream during 2013. Higher production was also noted from Umicore, Sumitomo, Vale, Glencore (Norway) and CTT whereas the other companies produced a little less in 2013," the CDI said.
It noted that Russian producer Norilsk Nickel not reporting as a full CDI member and added that Swiss commodities group Glencore joined as a full member in 2014.
Umicore's production increased to 5,415 mt in 2013 from 4,200 mt in 2012, while Sumitomo's increased to 2,747 mt from 2,542 mt.
Vale produced 2,240 mt of refined cobalt in 2013, up from 1,890 mt in 2012 and Glencore produced 3,400 mt up from 2,969 mt, with CTT producing 1,353 mt up from 1,314 mt over the same period.
Ambatovy produced 2,083 mt of refined cobalt in 2013, having not produced any material the previous year.
Refined cobalt availability from non-CDI members was up around 6,313 mt, or 15.5% in 2013 to 47,048 mt from 40,735 mt in 2012, the CDI said.
This was mainly due to a significant increase in Chinese production, which was up 21% to 36,062 mt in 2013 from 29,784 mt in 2012.
Production in central Africa was largely constrained in 2013 through electrical power limitations, it added.
The CDI said that apparent consumption appears to have been around 71,000 mt in 2013, a decrease of around 1,000 mt on 2012.
"Demand appears to have been largely unchanged across all the main markets," the CDI said.
There were no deliveries by the US Defense Logistics Agency in 2013 and the DLA inventory remains at 301 mt.
