DRC Cobalt Quota System Drives Prices From $21k to $56k Amid IMF Demand Slowdown Warning
Kinshasa replaced open-ended exports with controlled allocations after a temporary ban. Revenues are projected at $2.3 billion this year versus $617 million without intervention.
finance.yahoo.comThe Democratic Republic of Congo introduced a cobalt quota system through mining regulator ARECOMS after a temporary export ban, replacing open-ended shipments with controlled allocations to producers. Cobalt prices have risen from approximately $21,000 per tonne in early 2025 to just over $56,000 per tonne as of June 2026.
3 billion this year under the quota system, compared with an estimated $617 million in a no-intervention scenario.
U.S. businessman Erik Prince, which has worked with Kinshasa on export controls and revenue collection since the end of 2024. In April 2026 Kinshasa announced plans to build strategic stockpiles of cobalt, coltan, and germanium through buybacks of mining-company inventories.
The reserves target materials used in battery production, consumer electronics, semiconductors, fiber optics, infrared systems, and defense technologies. The DRC accounts for roughly 80 percent of global cobalt production. The quota system and reserve plans form part of a broader effort to move up the value chain and strengthen bargaining power with buyers in China and the West.
The International Monetary Fund has warned of a global demand slowdown for critical minerals due to geopolitical shocks in the Middle East, yet Congolese officials have dismissed concerns that the slowdown will undermine cobalt exports.
