Gansu  Jinchuan Group, China's largest  nickel  and  cobalt  producer,  cut  its price for electrolytic cobalt (1#  cobalt grade 99.8 percent) by RMB 50,000 ($7,142.86) per ton to RMB 748,000  ($106,857.14)  per  ton  last  Friday  due  to  abundant stockpiles.

Chinese  cobalt  prices  will  be weak in the near future, but will find support  at  the  RMB 650,000 (92,857.14) per ton level this year on the back of high production costs, analysts told Interfax.

"Although  China  is currently in the hottest cobalt consumption period, cobalt prices  will  remain  weak  in  the  near  future  mainly because Jinchuan  still  has a large amount of cobalt stockpiled, as it imported too much  during  the  Chinese New Year festival when cobalt prices were rising quickly,"  said  analyst  Zhai  Yang  from  Huayou  Cobalt Nickel Materials  Co.  Ltd.,  a  leading  cobalt chemical manufacturer based in Zhejiang Province.

China consumed  13,000  tons  of cobalt last year and its consumption is set to grow  approximately  9.8  percent  year-on-year to 14,274 tons in 2008, Zhai said.

Cobalt is  used  in  the  production of X-ray tubes and other specialist products,  as  well  as for the manufacture of many alloys, such carbide alloy and various steel alloys.