On January 16, the price of electrolytic cobalt slumped Yuan 7,000/tonne to Yuan 444,682-447,000/tonne from the previous trading day. Moreover, the price of cobalt sulfate moved up Yuan 500/t to Yuan 95,500/t-98,500/t, while that of cobalt chloride remained stable at 115,000-119,000/t.Production pressure on cobalt sulfate was significant, with smelters quoting at high levels. New cobalt sulfate was generally quoted above Yuan 95,000/tonne. Due to the seasonal off-season, overall downstream stocking willingness is low, with the focus on destocking existing inventories. However, there has been recent market talk of downstream inquiries for around Yuan 96,000/t for thousand-tonne level purchases, while smaller batch chemical industry orders have been concluded in the range of Yuan 97,000-98,000/t.