By Ange Kasongo and Sonia Rolley
KINSHASA (Reuters) -The Democratic Republic of Congo says it has temporarily halted cobalt exports to limit flow of new metal on the market which it says is over-supplied.
The ban will be in place for at least four months, the Authority for the Regulation and Control of Strategic Mineral Substances’ Markets, or ARECOMS, said in a statement.
`”This measure is intended to regulate supply on the international market, which is faced with a production glut,” Patrick Luabeya, president of ARECOMS said in the statement.
The ban is effective February 22 and could either be adjusted or terminated after three months, he said.
News of the temporary metal exports ban was earlier reported by Bloomberg News.
China’s CMOC Group , the world’s biggest cobalt miner, last year more than doubled its output of the metal to about 114,000 tons from about 56,000 tons, as it boosts copper production at its two mines in Congo.
CMOC, which is now the world’s single biggest cobalt producing company, did not immediately respond to emailed questions.
Eurasian Resources Group, another big Congo cobalt producer, also did not immediately respond to emailed questions while Glencore declined to comment.
Congo is the world’s top producer of cobalt, a key component in batteries for electric vehicles and mobile phones. The African country is also the world’s second-biggest copper producer.
The agency said the ban is for all cobalt produced in the country, including by small scale or artisanal miners.
(Reporting by Ange Kasongo in Kinshasa and Sonia Rolley in Paris, Disha Mishra in Bengaluru, Writing by Felix NjiniEditing by David Goodman and Tomasz Janowski)
