• The government says cobalt exports have resumed after a ban imposed in February

• Initial shipments are expected to be limited as testing under the quota system begins

• Questions remain over unused quotas and the pace of the export ramp-up

The Democratic Republic of Congo has “resumed” its cobalt exports, Finance Minister Doudou Fwamba said on December 23, according to several international media outlets. The statement marks official recognition that the embargo imposed in February 2025 has come to an end, after several months of a complete halt in shipments of the strategic metal.

The minister said the suspension introduced earlier this year was aimed at defending national sovereignty over mining resources and curbing a price slump caused by global oversupply. He also pointed to the recent recovery in cobalt prices as justification for the strategy adopted by the Congolese authorities, under the oversight of the Authority for Regulation and Control of Strategic Mineral Substances Markets.

Early signs of a restart

While the minister did not provide details on the conditions, progress, or practical arrangements of the restart, his comments come as the first operations under the new export framework begin to take shape.

On Monday, December 22, Reuters reported that Congolese authorities had started sampling procedures ahead of the first cobalt shipments under the new quota regime, notably for China’s CMOC, one of the world’s leading producers. The samples are intended to verify cargo compliance before any loading authorization is granted.

According to sources cited by the news agency, the required analyses take several days, and initial exports are expected to involve only “small volumes.” An executive at Tenke Fungurume Mining, a CMOC subsidiary, confirmed that the sampling phase had begun, adding that the first shipments were unlikely to leave the country before January.

Outstanding issues and outlook

These developments come as uncertainties persist around the implementation of the new export quota system introduced by the DRC in October, following the lifting of the embargo. As previously reported by Ecofin Agency, cobalt exports were initially expected to resume on October 16, but remained blocked due to the absence of a formal text detailing the new procedures. This delay shifted attention toward operational and legal challenges.

Several mining companies have said they are unable to use the full export volumes allocated to them for 2025, raising questions about the treatment of unused quotas. Under the regulatory framework, quotas are in principle neither transferable nor rollable, except for a limited end-of-year tolerance. The publication in early December of a joint Mines–Finance ministerial circular helped ease part of the regulatory deadlock and allowed the first operations to begin under the new system, through a testing phase involving limited volumes.

For the DRC, the world’s largest cobalt producer, the challenge now is to demonstrate its ability to apply the new framework on a lasting basis, while securing fiscal revenues and preserving the attractiveness of its mining sector. For mining companies, the task is to adapt to a system whose effects on export volumes and global supply chains remain unclear. The coming weeks should show whether the current momentum translates into a smoother ramp-up in exports or whether administrative constraints continue to weigh on the effective restart of Congolese cobalt flows.

Louis-Nino Kansoun