Fastmarkets has partnered with CME Group to launch a cash-settled cobalt contract to be settled against Fastmarkets’ daily benchmark cobalt price assessment.

Fastmarkets, the industry-leading cross-commodity PRA, announced on Thursday November 19 that CME Group has chosen Fastmarkets as the PRA for its new cash-settled cobalt futures contract, which will launch on December 14, pending regulatory review. The new contract will be listed on and subject to the rules of COMEX and settled against the benchmark daily standard-grade cobalt price assessed by Fastmarkets.

Fastmarkets reporters present the key themes and discussion points from the Lithium Supply and Markets online conference, which was held online on October 26-28.

With a virtual LME Week starting on Monday October 19, the base metals market is starting to focus on negotiating 2021 contracts. Here, read about how the evolving nature of virtual negotiations is affecting the aluminium, copper, nickel and tin markets.

Lithium fans, take note. The metal’s crown as the leading raw material in batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) is facing increasing competition from other products such as cobalt and nickel.