Global share of cobalt demand 2023, by end-use

Electric vehicle batteries accounted for a 45 percent share of the total global demand for cobalt in 2023. In second place that year, portable cobalt batteries accounted for a 26 percent share of global cobalt demand. 

Different applications require different forms of cobalt. For example, lithium-ion batteries, catalysts, soaps and dryers, and pigments consume mostly cobalt chemicals. Magnets and nickel-based alloys on the other hand require only metallic forms of cobalt such as powders and cathodes. These different requirements therefore diversify the types of cobalt demanded and consumed.