Battery recycler GEM locks in cobalt supply amid soaring prices

Chinese companies are racing to secure cobalt supplies as the chemical's price soars, driven by fast-increasing demand from the electric vehicle battery manufacturing industry.

Shenzhen-based battery recycler and battery chemical supplier GEM Co Ltd, together with several subsidiaries, has made a massive strategic purchase agreement with cobalt giant Glencore Plc, locking about one third of the latter's yearly cobalt production throughout the next three years.

According to the Chinese firm's filing released Wednesday, GEM and its subsidiaries will buy 13,800 metric tons of cobalt contained in hydroxide from Glencore in 2018. The purchases will rise to 18,000 tons in 2019, and 21,000 tons in 2020.