Cobalt Market Shifts: African Export Taxes Push Prices to a 6-Month High

The global cobalt market experienced sharp upward movement in mid-April 2026, driven by fiscal policy adjustments in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and tightening compliance protocols under the EU Battery Regulation. Spot prices for 99.8% pure cathode cobalt jumped 9.3% over a two-week window, settling at $35,400 per tonne.

The price rally follows the DRC government’s decision to impose a new 5% export levy on unrefined mineral concentrates, an aggressive legislative push aimed at forcing international mining conglomerates to build domestic refining infrastructure. This regulatory shift has immediately restricted the flow of crude hydroxides to refining hubs in China, causing a temporary bottleneck in the global availability of battery-grade chemicals.

For European automotive OEMs and battery manufacturers, this fiscal adjustment underscores the vulnerability of single-source dependencies. GranTi’s procurement desk notes that companies are increasingly bypassing standard spot channels to negotiate directly with fully integrated ESG-compliant refiners in North America and Europe. Securing long-term processing slots is now considered more critical than tracking pure raw material mining volumes.