Desk Log, 29 October
Cobalt piles up in solution
Glencore's cobalt output has sunk 52% under DRC quotas, with the miner now holding battery metal in solution rather than finishing it, deferring processing costs while it waits out Kinshasa's export curbs. The curious part is the price: cobalt sits at 34,620 USD/t, exactly where it was last printed, unmoved by a supply cut that size. Either the market has built enough cushion elsewhere to absorb it, or nobody has repriced yet.
Lagos closes the order book
Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals closed Africa's largest IPO to date with orders running close to three times its $1.6bn target. Nigerian investors alone bid roughly $4.78bn, and regulators are now weighing whether to let the offering swell to $2.1bn. The company behind the 700,000 barrel-a-day Lekki refinery says subscribers came from 120 countries; shares list on the Nigerian Exchange in December.
Freight breaks its slide
The Baltic Dry Index snapped a three-day losing run on Wednesday and kept climbing into Thursday, up 60 points to 2,712. The move is lopsided: capesize rates surged roughly 5% to a two-week high on Wednesday's print, while panamax, the size that actually carries most grain and bagged fertiliser, fell to its lowest level since late April. Bulk owners are having a better week than grain charterers.
Nairobi widens the net
The Kenya Revenue Authority says its eRITS data system has identified one million property owners it believes are under-declaring rental income, and plans to use the tool to chase compliance across that list.
Loose change
Teck Resources posted stronger quarterly profit on copper prices hitting record highs, and the World Bank has lifted its copper price outlook by 18%, both extensions of a rally that has dominated the wire all week. The London Metal Exchange is meanwhile working on turning metal sitting in its Hong Kong warehouses into digital tokens that can be used for financing. A Chilean copper explorer has lined up a $400 million loan toward a $750 million open-pit project in Antofagasta. In Mali, Resolute says its Syama mine has largely stabilised after supply-chain disruptions, with 31,777 ounces produced through the rough patch. And on the fertiliser side, urea and DAP sat flat on the day at 446.5 and 802.5 USD/t respectively, while sulphur eased slightly to 835 USD/t.