Electric car market jumpstarts cobalt prices

London

COBALT is hitting historically high prices fuelled by the car industry, which needs the rare metal to make light and durable electric batteries.

The price per tonne of cobalt rose to US$82,000 on the London Metal Exchange (LME) in mid-February, its highest level since it began tracking the commodity in 2010, and has almost tripled in value since the beginning of 2016.