A 20% rise in the price of cobalt since the beginning of this year shows how the rush to build more electric vehicles is stressing global supply chains.
Already a shortage of semiconductors is slowing the recovery in auto production. Now cobalt, a blue metal that is needed for many types of batteries including those in EVs, is a concern, according to people in the auto and battery industries and analysts.
“The demand is not going to shrink any time soon, while the supply remains tight mainly due to logistics disruptions in South Africa during the pandemic,” said Ying Lu, an analyst at London-based commodity research firm Roskill.
