Cobalt prices drop by 6%

According to the Zambia Extractive Industries Transparency […]

According to the Zambia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (ZEITI) Mineral Commodity Prices Dashboard, cobalt prices have continued on a downward trend as at 18 September 2026, closing trading at USD39,690.00 per tonne from USD42,380.00 per tonne recorded on 11 September 2026.

The report seen by the Zambian Business TimesZBT further revealed that this represents a price decrease of 6.35% from 11 September 2026, while the current cobalt price represents a 25.61% decrease from USD53,355.00 recorded on 2 January 2026.

 Meanwhile, speaking in an interview with Zambian Business Times-ZBT, mining expert Edward Simukonda indicated that the downward movement is largely a result of oversupply on the global market. Simukonda said the oversupply has affected cobalt suppliers across the world as the market adjusts to increased availability of the mineral.

 “Currently, cobalt is navigating a very complex phase because it was oversupplied on the world market, and as a result the suppliers of cobalt have been affected worldwide,” he said.

 Simukonda added that Zambia is also affected by the global cobalt market because the country generally obtains cobalt as a by-product of other mining activities, particularly copper production.

 “In Zambia, we do not normally mine cobalt directly as an ore, but we extract it from other ores like copper where it comes in as a by-product, so the miners and suppliers are being affected,” he said.

Simukonda told ZBT that the global market is already working towards correcting the supply imbalance that has contributed to the current price decline.

“The world is working towards correcting what is currently happening, and I am pretty sure that within a couple of months or three, we should be able to see a change in the current situation,” he said.

Article by Philip Sinkala