Goldman Sachs Maintains Steady Interest in Electric Vehicle Batteries... Recently Increased Cobalt Transactions

[Image source=AFP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] Major foreign media reported on the 14th (local time) that Goldman Sachs is increasing its trading volume of cobalt, a material attracting attention as an electric vehicle battery material.

With CME Group's New York Mercantile Exchange (Comex) having launched the cobalt futures market in December last year, Goldman Sachs' expansion of cobalt trading is expected to greatly help in growing the market size.

According to sources, Goldman Sachs has been actively trading cobalt since last year and recently purchased physical cobalt assets for the first time.

CME Group stated that, as the cobalt futures market is still in its early stages, they are focusing on increasing trading volume. As trading volume increases, the predictability of futures prices improves. This ensures transparency in the cobalt futures market. When price volatility in the futures market becomes predictable, automobile companies can hedge risks related to cobalt price fluctuations through the futures market.

With the transition to the electric vehicle era, cobalt is attracting attention as a mineral resource expected to see a significant increase in demand alongside lithium. The International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasts that cobalt demand will increase more than 20 times by 2040. Since the beginning of this year, lithium carbonate prices have risen by 65%, and cobalt sulfate prices have increased by 24%.

Accordingly, futures markets are being launched one after another. CME Group opened the lithium futures market last month, and LME also plans to start lithium futures trading this year.

Goldman Sachs has consistently shown interest in the electric vehicle and battery markets. Swedish battery company Northvolt secured an investment of $2.75 billion this week, with Goldman Sachs reportedly investing about $1 billion.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.