Cobalt exports from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been suspended for four months. The ARECOMS, the country’s watchdog for strategic minerals markets, announced the decision on February 22. Suggested last December by Senator Michel Kanyimbu, the move aims to reduce oversupply and stabilize prices which have plunged to $20,000 per tonne from a high of $81,000 in 2022. The drop in prices was mainly driven by Chinese mining giant CMOC’s output of 114,000 tonnes in 2024.

“If we reduce our cobalt oxide exports to 80,000 tonnes per year, we will triple its market price,” Kanyimbu argued during a December 3 plenary session on the 2025 finance bill. While understandable, the suspension does not guarantee achieving Kanyimbu’s proposed target of capping annual cobalt oxide exports at 80,000 tonnes. In 2023, the DRC exported 152,798 tonnes—nearly double the suggested threshold. 

In his December speech, the Senator backed his claim noting that “in 2022, global cobalt supply hovered around 115,000 tonnes, and prices stood at $81,000 per tonne. However, we kept increasing our production, and this directly impacted prices. It is time for the government to limit exports.”  Kanyimbu affirmed that curbing exports is strategic since the DRC controls 70% of the global cobalt market. 

The senator expects the move could generate nearly $1 billion annually for the DRC through mining royalties and profit taxes. “With a bold government decision, we could recover $900 million to $1 billion in one year,” he said in December.

Kanyimbu’s ambitions extend beyond fiscal gains. Representing Lualaba province, one of the world’s richest cobalt regions, Kanyimbu envisions using these revenues to fund critical infrastructure projects such as rehabilitating the Dilolo-Kolwezi road and Kolwezi-Solwezi corridor. “This is why I insist on finding these additional revenues,” he stated.

The recent suspension aligns with earlier discussions by President Félix Tshisekedi, who had floated the idea of export quotas during a Council of Ministers meeting last year. Whether Kanyimbu’s advocacy influenced this decision remains unclear.

This article was initially published by Ronsard Luabeya (intern)

Edited in English by Ola Schad Akinocho