On December 26, the price of electrolytic cobalt surged Yuan 6,067/tonne to Yuan 431,522-435,000/tonne from the previous trading day. In addition, the prices of cobalt chloride and cobalt sulfate both remained stable at Yuan 110,000-114,000/t and 90,000/t-95,000/t respectively.The cobalt sulfate market has recently shown a trend of firm prices but declining transactions. Raw material supply remained tight with elevated prices, placing significant production pressure on smelters and prompting them to maintain firm quotations. On the demand side, downstream users focused primarily on inventory drawdown. Recent transactions for existing stock were mostly concentrated above Yuan 88,000/t, while that for new cobalt sulfate generally rose to above Yuan 90,000/t, leading to a considerable price gap between buyers and sellers. Given the ongoing tightness in the supply of cobalt intermediates, cobalt sulfate prices are expected to maintain an upward trajectory.