by The Fikiria Desk | Feb 24, 2025 | Consumers
The buyers who most depend on Congolese cobalt rarely see the Democratic Republic of Congo on the label; they see a phone, an electric car, a power tool. On 24 February 2025, the DRC suspended cobalt exports for four months to reduce oversupply and support the price...
by The Fikiria Desk | Feb 24, 2025 | Economics
The Democratic Republic of Congo mines most of the world’s cobalt, yet for years its producers have behaved like price-takers, shipping raw and part-processed material into a market whose value was decided elsewhere. On 24 February that habit was interrupted....
by The Fikiria Desk | Feb 24, 2025 | Property
A government can decide to withhold its minerals, but it cannot move the roads, rail, warehouses and plants that carry them. The Democratic Republic of Congo’s suspension of cobalt exports on 24 February is, on its face, a policy about a commodity price. Its...
by The Fikiria Desk | Feb 24, 2025 | Money
The battery economy runs on cobalt, but the capital behind cobalt has largely sat outside the country that supplies most of it. The Democratic Republic of Congo mines the metal; the financing, inventory and trading margins accumulate elsewhere. On 24 February Kinshasa...
by The Fikiria Desk | Feb 24, 2025 | Profiles
A single ministry can announce an export ban in a morning; building the institutional muscle to enforce it, monitor it and unwind it in an orderly way takes years. On 24 February 2025, the Democratic Republic of Congo suspended cobalt exports for four months to reduce...