From their corporate offices in London, executives at mining conglomerate Glencore published a first-quarter production report confirming a massive physical reduction in battery metal extraction. The Swiss-based commodities trader reported a 39 percent drop in cobalt production on Thursday, Kitco reported. The decline stems directly from export limits imposed by the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Congolese government initially suspended exports last February to support prices after they plummeted to nine-year lows. Glencore stated it is currently postponing final cobalt processing to avoid accumulating costs while the state's export limits physically restrict sales. Conversely, the company’s first-quarter copper output rose 19 percent to 199,600 metric tons, driven by higher grades at its African operations and the Antamina mine in Peru, according to Kitco.

Glencore expects its DRC cobalt exports to normalize over the course of the year "in line with remaining 2026 quotas," the company stated in its production report, per Kitco. The firm noted that its KCC and Mutanda operations hold sufficient on-hand inventory to utilise their near-term export allowances. The DRC government has extended the validity of producers’ 2025 cobalt export quotas to April 2026 to facilitate the transition to new export processes.