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Goldman Sachs promotes the cobalt trade

Goldman Sachs has launched its business in the cobalt metal battery, connected to one of the hottest spots on the retail market where car manufacturers are moving to electric vehicles.

The bank has been operating in the cobalt markets since last year, and has recently started buying metals for the first time, according to people familiar with the matter.

The integration of banks like Goldman could help bring about the sale of cobalt, an unpredictable market where prices are determined separately between buyers and sellers.

Weapons manufacturers need metals such as lithium and cobalt batteries, and so on its direct source from miners. But they are open to change in painful prices.

So far, the price of lithium carbonate has risen 65% this year while the price of cobalt sulfate is 24%, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.

Prices should continue to rise sharply. To achieve the goals of the Paris climate agreement, the demand for cobalt should increase by more than 20 by 2040, according to to the International Energy Agency.

At present, carm manufacturers cannot easily secure batteries such as cobalt as there are very few trades on exchanges such as the London Metal Exchange. Among other things is due to concerns about the arrival of another cobalt stored in LME reservoirs, which can be linked to child labor in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Comex exchange for CME Group in New York is also working to create its own cobalt joint venture established in December. “All agreements take time to build,” it said.

Goldman, meanwhile, was supplying clothing products to carmakers and also protected himself only from the presence of cobalt, say experts. The bank declined to comment.

The CME exchange last month launched the lithium trade for the first time, with LME also set to start selling lithium this year.

Goldman joined the cobalt LME committee in March 2020, the first bank to become a member. Tesla’s electronics manufacturer is also a member of the committee.

The bank has become a major investor in the development of electric vehicles. That was laid to rest about $ 1bn this week in Swedish battery company Northvolt, as part of a $ 2.75bn circulation budget.

Goldman has a long history of sales, since taking over from J Aron & Co in 1981. Former senior manager Lloyd Blankfein rose in the sales segment.

In recent years, however, it has revived its business venture.

In 2014, it sold the warehouse manager Metro International Trade Services after a U.S. Senate executive committee said it had helped raise aluminum prices by disrupting iron ore between warehouses – which the bank had rejected.


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