Democratic Republic of Congo quotas demand strategic shift to copper
Workers load batches of processed copper at Mutanda Mining Sarl, 69%-owned by Glencore , in Lualaba province, southern DRC. Picture: GETTY IMAGES Glencore has reported a nearly 20% jump in first quarter copper production as the commodity trading giant scrambles to reconfigure its Congolese business.
The group, one of the world’s largest cobalt suppliers, has been hit hard by Democratic Republic of Congo’s export quotas on cobalt, imposed in October after a month-long export ban. In a bid to align itself with the new system, the group has taken significant steps to replace cobalt volumes with copper, resulting in a 19% year-on-year jump in copper output for the first three months of 2026. Cobalt production was down 39% year on year in the period.
The policy shock has driven cobalt prices sharply higher in recent months and squeezed global supply of the metal, which is required for electric vehicles. It caps the country’s annual exports in 2026 to 96,600 tonnes, with DRC accounting for more than 70% of global mined cobalt production.that Glencore was the first miner to export cobalt under the quota system, which began with a trickle of shipments in December.
In recent months production has recovered somewhat as the group balances its 2025 quota — it expects to export 22,800 tonnes of the mineral between January and April and a further 18,800 tonnes this year, in line with its 2026 quota.tonnes it exported in the years before the export ban. The system, which applies until at least the end of 2027, allows for excess production at Glencore’s DRCese mines to be stored in country and sold “as circumstances allow”, it said.
Glencore expects cobalt exports to normalise over the year as the export and quota systems settle in. Fortunately for Glencore, the cobalt fiasco comes as copper prices have been flirting with record highs in recent months, spurred by soaring data centre demand and a series of disruptions at major mines.
Added to this is a recent surge in energy coal prices, as the war in Iran and disruptions to global oil supplies force countries to turn to cheaper alternative sources of power. Glencore CEO Gary Nagle said he expects stronger commodity prices to more than offset cost inflation fuelled by the situation in the Middle East, resulting in margin expansion, with copper prices up 5% this year, zinc up 7% and energy coal up 22%.
“Although the impact of the conflict on our industrial business was limited in the first quarter, recent and emerging impacts are now manifesting, primarily as an increase in input costs, most notably diesel and acid consumption, and the generally weaker dollar. ” But with the current stronger commodity prices, “we expect these cost impacts to be more than offset, which would result in margin expansion”, he said.
DRC Cobalt Quotas Copper Production Surge Cobalt Price Increase Electric Vehicle Supply Chain Glencore Democratic Republic Of Congo Cobalt
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