Cobalt price history, 1992 to 2026

Cobalt, 99.8% minimum purity, LME spot averaged $55,854/t in August 2026, +70% over twelve months and +112% over ten years. The nominal all-time high was $95,023/t in March 2008; in 2024 dollars the real peak was $139,652/t in March 2008. Monthly averages, IMF PCPS.

Show latest price in Converted from USD at the latest available monthly average rate (Federal Reserve via FRED); the chart and tables below stay in USD.

Cobalt, 99.8% minimum purity, LME spot

Dashed lines: Asian financial crisis begins (Jul 1997); September 11 attacks (Sep 2001); Lehman Brothers collapse (Sep 2008); Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident (Mar 2011); OPEC holds output steady amid oversupply (Nov 2014); COVID-19 declared a pandemic (Mar 2020); Russia invades Ukraine (Feb 2022); Israel-Hamas war begins (Oct 2023). Hover a line for the source of its date.

Derived price statistics per series
Series	Latest	1 month	12 months	5 years	10 years	20 years	All-time high (nominal)	All-time high (real, 2024 US$)
Cobalt, 99.8% minimum purity, LME spot $/t, since 1992	55,854 August 2026	-0%	+70%	+8%	+112%	+77%	95,023 March 2008	139,652 March 2008

Percentage changes compare the latest monthly average with the monthly average 1, 12, 60, 120 and 240 months earlier. Real prices deflate by the US consumer price index (BLS via FRED) to 2024 dollars.

Prices are monthly benchmark averages that may lag the market; informational only, not investment, legal or trade advice. For what these benchmarks mean and how they are set, see how cobalt is priced.

Monthly cobalt prices by decade

Choose a decade. Values are monthly averages in the unit shown; blank cells mean no quote was published.

Cobalt, 99.8% minimum purity, LME spot ($/t)

Cobalt, 99.8% minimum purity, LME spot monthly prices, 1990s, $/t
Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Average
1992	30,920	28,250	28,330	27,020	26,500	24,750	21,670	19,630	18,781	15,350	16,313	15,875	22,782
1993	15,505	15,958	16,125	15,275	14,800	13,688	12,875	12,175	12,333	12,217	11,650	13,400	13,833
1994	20,750	21,167	24,417	24,875	23,563	24,375	23,525	22,438	25,500	27,333	26,688	29,250	24,490
1995	30,375	30,000	28,438	27,938	29,000	27,850	27,400	28,813	29,045	29,188	30,875	31,675	29,216
1996	31,750	31,125	29,350	28,375	28,500	26,063	22,688	21,400	22,150	21,888	21,400	21,400	25,507
1997	21,688	21,688	19,925	22,469	25,375	23,406	22,563	23,475	24,525	23,770	25,413	25,650	23,329
1998	24,995	24,669	24,958	24,625	24,500	24,250	22,820	21,788	20,837	17,750	15,438	11,469	21,508
1999	10,938	18,083	18,525	16,350	16,113	20,581	20,100	19,000	18,350	15,667	14,000	14,200	16,826

Cobalt, 99.8% minimum purity, LME spot monthly prices, 2000s, $/t
Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Average
2000	14,438	14,094	15,225	16,219	16,543	14,977	13,071	13,935	15,030	16,682	16,000	16,000	15,184
2001	13,500	13,900	14,273	14,119	10,909	10,814	10,293	9,682	9,313	8,250	8,250	7,593	10,908
2002	6,950	6,950	6,765	6,625	6,685	6,706	6,788	6,614	6,686	6,188	6,186	6,551	6,641
2003	13,725	14,426	16,689	16,924	17,938	19,538	19,581	19,234	18,829	19,552	25,582	34,006	19,669
2004	49,223	49,819	50,171	48,602	46,839	46,215	45,382	43,829	42,960	40,464	31,064	32,403	43,914
2005	34,645	33,488	30,407	32,460	29,071	26,714	25,135	29,046	29,207	25,263	25,067	26,868	28,948
2006	25,742	23,816	25,488	28,038	28,345	26,557	26,080	31,604	35,804	34,671	35,271	52,651	31,172
2007	47,696	48,680	55,929	57,833	54,685	52,152	49,984	46,382	52,219	54,468	59,469	72,601	54,341
2008	83,038	91,011	95,023	92,484	88,924	84,658	74,009	50,482	58,289	62,763	41,394	27,996	70,839
2009	30,718	30,602	26,495	29,165	29,795	27,447	31,916	35,064	35,727	32,312	37,961	37,856	32,088

Cobalt, 99.8% minimum purity, LME spot monthly prices, 2010s, $/t
Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Average
2010	40,702	41,508	37,414	42,040	40,474	38,948	38,063	38,465	41,186	38,898	37,105	37,617	39,368
2011	39,213	39,778	38,264	37,024	38,158	36,019	35,113	35,931	34,530	30,607	28,691	30,809	35,345
2012	33,007	31,773	31,143	30,796	30,517	28,832	28,394	29,050	29,221	26,897	23,563	23,976	28,931
2013	25,518	25,441	25,317	26,209	27,984	30,048	29,290	26,803	28,680	27,038	26,172	26,588	27,091
2014	28,135	31,082	30,699	29,772	29,993	30,459	31,697	32,342	32,351	31,142	30,752	30,945	30,781
2015	30,749	29,155	27,569	28,827	30,067	30,650	31,580	29,244	27,714	27,499	24,414	23,951	28,452
2016	23,135	22,276	22,983	23,001	23,414	23,693	25,086	26,297	26,625	28,206	29,258	31,589	25,463
2017	34,720	43,005	52,765	55,306	54,942	57,449	58,549	58,465	60,129	59,906	62,118	72,632	55,832
2018	77,294	80,793	87,615	90,783	90,250	81,188	70,648	63,302	62,210	60,627	54,963	55,263	72,911
2019	40,705	32,100	31,333	33,500	34,167	28,809	27,340	30,137	35,720	35,263	35,510	33,547	33,178

Cobalt, 99.8% minimum purity, LME spot monthly prices, 2020s, $/t
Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Average
2020	32,213	33,542	31,119	29,565	29,563	29,074	28,517	32,915	33,482	33,228	32,239	31,882	31,445
2021	37,884	47,516	52,415	49,021	44,215	44,149	51,649	51,641	51,798	54,779	60,413	69,347	51,236
2022	70,527	71,574	80,457	81,790	77,721	72,058	55,713	49,309	51,515	51,509	51,505	51,498	63,765
2023	48,874	36,615	33,865	34,499	33,140	29,351	32,982	32,981	32,982	32,983	33,004	30,026	34,275
2024	28,691	28,271	28,282	27,997	27,440	26,825	26,401	25,111	24,080	24,229	24,292	24,300	26,327
2025	23,780	21,721	31,535	33,314	33,260	32,965	32,895	32,896	33,482	43,146	48,139	51,873	34,917
2026	55,500	55,858	55,849	55,857	55,854	55,855	55,873	55,854					55,812

Method

Nominal prices are the source's monthly averages in US dollars, stored in the source's unit and never mixed on one chart. Real prices divide each month by the US consumer price index for all urban consumers (BLS series CPIAUCSL, via FRED) and multiply by the 2024 average, so they read as "2024 dollars". Changes are ratios of monthly averages. The all-time high is the highest monthly average, not an intraday peak.

Downloads

All series and statistics as JSON
IMF series are shown as charts and statistics only; download them from the IMF Primary Commodity Price System.

Cite as: Commodity Origins, "Cobalt price history (1992–2026)", https://commodityorigins.com/prices/cobalt/, data 2026-09-08. Data updated 22 October 2026.