US’s Electric Vehicle Boom Is Deepening the Suffering in the Congo

Fizz , 1 month ago

Doesn't the US mine a lot of its own cobalt. If this is being caused by a boom in demand its probably from Chinese electric vehicle demand.

BrikoX OP Mod , 1 month ago

They actually don't. They closed their only mine in 2023. China and Congo are the world suppliers. And their trade war with China leaves Congo the only supplier for them.

Fizz , 1 month ago

Oh my bad. I was completely wrong about America producing cobalt locally. It does seem they import most from Africa.

I did get figures that support my statement that most of the demand is driven by China. I checked through 2021, 2022 and 2023 and China is a large majority of the demand and demand increase. America makes up less than 10% of global ev sales and their demand is not "booming" when compared with the Chinese ev demand increases.

Here's a paragraph that outlines what I'm saying. Ev now accounts for almost half of all cobalt demand and is increasing year on year.

the passenger segment accounted for 87% of EV demand in 2023 and is the largest demand
driver over the forecast period. Global passenger EV sales rose to 13.8 million
units in 2023, up 33% y/y – a fall from 58% y/y growth in 2022. Of this, China (7.9 million), EU
(3.5 million) and the US (1.4 million) accounted for 93% of sales. - cobalt institute market report 2023.