In the Democratic Republic of Congo, quotas cobalt exports awarded to producers for the last quarter 2025 can finally be used until March 31, 2026. The announcement was made by the Congolese regulator in a press release dated Sunday 28 December, relayed on Wednesday December 31 by the agency Reuters. This decision is aimed at to remove the uncertainties arising from the difficulties encountered in implementation of the new strategic metal export system.

After establishing, at the beginning of the year, an embargo on shipments of cobalt in order to weigh on a market that was then in surplus, the In October, the Congolese authorities opted for a quota system. In Under this framework, a total volume of 18,125 tons was authorized for export between October and December 2025. However, administrative bottlenecks and operational have prevented several producers from fully using their quotas within the specified time frame.

As pointed out by the Ecofin Agency, the framework original regulations did not provide for the deferral or transfer of quotas no used, increasing operators' concerns. The Minister of Finance, Doudou Fwamba, recently indicated that cobalt exports had” taken over”, without however specifying the volumes actually shipped or the companies concerned.

Among the main players in the sector, CMOC, which has of a quota of 6,650 tonnes for the fourth quarter of 2025, estimated that the first cargoes would not leave Congolese territory until month of January. The last weeks of 2025 were dedicated to continuation of administrative procedures, in particular sampling samples for the first shipments under the quota regime, as well as to the settlement of customs formalities.

If the extension of the validity of quotas makes it possible to dispel the uncertainty around the volumes not exported in 2025, it does not end all challenges. The Congolese government will now have to demonstrate its ability to apply this new framework in a sustainable manner and effective. The embargo established in February, in a context of an overabundance of the global supply coincided with a sharp rise in cobalt prices in 2025, achieving one of the goals sought by Kinshasa