China Cobalt Intermediate Imports & DRC Supply

China's cobalt intermediate imports can show a positive latest-month year-on-year change alongside a large cumulative decline. This tracker compares monthly shipment weight, USD value and DR Congo's supplier share, with exact-calendar month-on-month and complete year-to-date comparisons.

The current tables distinguish a rise from the same month a year earlier from a recovery in the current monthly trend. A positive YoY reading and a negative MoM reading can occur together. Read the absolute monthly tonnes and prior-year base before deciding how much weight to give a percentage.

Cobalt intermediates are a distinct processing stage

The published Chinese eight-digit line HS 81052010 covers intermediate products from cobalt hydrometallurgy. Its broader six-digit parent includes other cobalt forms. Do not label the parent as a clean intermediate-only series, or add overlapping tariff levels into one cobalt total.

The recorded weight is the traded product's physical mass. It is not contained cobalt, refined-metal output or battery production. Material grades and composition can vary; a ratio of USD to kilograms is a statistical unit value rather than a benchmark cobalt price.

Explore unwrought cobalt and nickel-related materials separately through the Critical Minerals Hub. Changes between these series can suggest a research question, but they do not prove substitution between products.

Compare DR Congo with the same-month global total

The supplier row shows the declared DR Congo partner observation and its share of the matching global import total. Value and shipment-weight shares use separate denominators. A country can account for almost all recorded trade by one measure while its share by another measure differs.

High concentration identifies exposure to investigate. Customs records alone cannot establish the mine of origin, a licensing restriction, inventory movements or a supply interruption. The selected partner history also does not provide a complete ranking of every supplier.

Latest month versus cumulative growth

Year-to-date growth uses every month from January through the reference month in both years. A missing observation makes that comparison unavailable. The weight alert appears only when verified latest-month weight growth is positive and complete cumulative weight growth is negative.

The latest-month MoM compares the immediately preceding calendar month. It is not a comparison with the last non-missing record. Recorded zero quantities remain zero, while absent or incomplete quantities remain unavailable. These distinctions matter when a volatile supply chain has sparse records.

Download and extend the study

The CSV above contains the displayed global and DR Congo monthly USD values and native kilograms. The weight table converts kilograms to tonnes. Each series retains the same product, flow and release as its corresponding chart.

For broader analysis, compare these records with other battery-material trade products, or consult API documentation. Trade-regime breakdowns and contained-metal estimates require additional compatible sources; they are not inferred from this supplier preview.

Source: ChinaData's published GACC customs release. Physical quantities are displayed only after complete eligible-partner coverage and quantity reconciliation; source credits do not imply that external industry estimates populate this tracker.