IXM, a commodity trader owned by China's CMOC Group, has announced a force majeure on deliveries of cobalt from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the world's major producer of cobalt, as reported by Reuters.

The announcement follows DRC's decision to extend its export ban on the battery material.

In February 2025, the DRC initially implemented a four-month suspension of all cobalt exports to address oversupply issues and support prices, which were then around $10 per lb.

DRC extended the suspension for an additional three months, with the possibility of modifying, extending or terminating the suspension before the new deadline in September.

CMOC, the top cobalt-producing company globally, has projected its cobalt output to be between 100,000 and 120,000 tonnes (t) in 2025 at its Tenke Fungurume Mining (TFM) and Kisanfu Mining (KFM) sites in the DRC.

This compares to 114,000t produced in 2024 and 56,000t in 2023.

TFM and KFM are the suppliers for IXM, which stated on a social media post that the export ban has "rendered it legally and practically impossible for IXM’s suppliers … to export cobalt products from the DRC".

In the first quarter of 2025, CMOC reached a record high for the period with copper output at 170,574t - a 15.65% year-on-year increase - while cobalt output rose by 20.68% year-on-year to 30,414t.

Cobalt prices on COMEX have seen a recovery since the initial ban in February, with current prices nearing $16 per lb.

Other mining giants, such as London-listed Glencore and Eurasian Resources Group (ERG), also declared force majeure on certain cobalt deliveries after the DRC's export ban.