Last week, the cobalt salt market continued its bottom-stalemate pattern. Although mainstream cobalt sulfate producers maintained their quotes, a few producers, pressured by capital and inventory constraints, still made low-price offloads. Cobalt chloride, meanwhile, was weighed down by sluggish downstream demand from Co3O4 and by substitution effects from low-priced cobalt sulfate, with transactions nearly grinding to a halt. Midweek, news that the DRC had reclaimed unused export quotas provided a temporary boost to market sentiment. However, actual supply-demand dynamics showed no substantial improvement, with most downstream players remaining on the sidelines and procurement proceeding at a slow pace. Overall, the cobalt salt market remains in a tug-of-war between cost support and weak demand, and any market stabilization still hinges on the tangible realization of concentrated restocking demand from downstream consumers.