Platts changes brand list for European cobalt assessments

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, has started to include Lygend cut cathodes in its European Cobalt Metal 99.8% Mixed-Use Basket B assessment, while the Jinchuan brand has been removed from the European Cobalt Metal 99.8% Alloy Use assessment, effective Sept. 1.

Jinchuan is seldom reported to be traded in the European spot market, and recent indications for this brand have been presented at considerable discounts compared with other Alloy-Use brands.

For the Mixed-Use Basket B assessment (symbol MMAIK00), Platts considers the following list of cobalt metal brands:

• CTT broken cathodes
• Ambatovy briquettes
• Vale Long Harbor cobalt rounds 99.9%
• Murrin Murrin briquettes
• Lygend cut cathodes

For the Alloy-Use assessment (ECMAG00), Platts considers the following cobalt brands:

• Vale Port Colborne cobalt rounds 99.9%
• Sumitomo Metal Mining (SMM) cut cathodes 99.8%
• Nikkelverk cut cathodes 99.95%

For the mixed-use basket A assessment (ECMCG00), Platts brand list remains unchanged:

• Jiangsu KLK broken cathodes
• Huayou cut cathodes
• Hanrui cut cathodes
• Sherritt briquettes
• Nornickel Norilsk cut cathodes
• Tengyuan cathodes
• Greatpower cathodes

Other brands may be considered for the assessments and may be subject to normalization.

Following initial feedback gathered during the annual review of Platts global nonferrous specifications guide, Platts proposed brand changes in a subscriber note published on July 14 and communicated its decision to implement the updates on Aug. 4.

Platts reshaped its European cobalt assessments by publishing separate assessments for mixed-use and alloy-use cobalt on Sept. 2, 2024. Please refer to Platts global nonferrous specifications guide for more details.

The daily cobalt assessments are published on Platts Nonferrous Metals Alert pages PMA375, MTL375, PMA8888, MTL8888 and Platts Metals Daily and Platts Battery Metals Market Report. The associated weekly and monthly averages on PMA0682, MTL0682, PMA0664, MTL0664, PMA8880 and MTL8880 as well as in Platts Market Center.

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