IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/natres/v4y1980i4p403-413.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cobalt: A Strategic And Critical Resource For Industrialized Nations, Supplied By Developing Nations

Author

Listed:
  • SCOTT F. SIBLEY

Abstract

In 1978, the world cobalt market was abruptly thrust into a state of great uncertainty, with soaring prices, limited supply, and accelerating demand. A critical shortage threatened to develop but never really materialized. However, this situation dramatized Western nations' vulnerability to supply disruption. A number of factors, including limited natural occurrence, unfavourable market conditions, and accelerating demand for cobalt, combined to bring about these unstable conditions. En 1978, le marché mondial du cobalt a été soudainement plongé dans un état de désorganisation, avec des prix en flèche, peu d'approvisionnement et une demande accélérée. La situation menaçait de devenir critique mais n'a jamais atteint un point dangereux. Cependant, ceci a fait ressortir combien vulnérables pouvaient être les pays occidentaux à l'interruption des ressources. Un certain nombre de facteurs parmi lesquels le nombre limité de gisements, des conditions de marché défavorables et la demande accélérée pour le cobalt se sont combinés pour créer ces conditions d'instabilité. En 1978 el mercado mundial del cobalto se encontró abruptamente en un estado de gran incertidumbre, con precios crecientes, oferta restringida y la demanda en acelerado aumento. Aunque la amenaza de una paralizante carestía del cobalto no se materializó, esta situación sirvió para dramatizar la vulnerabilidad de los países occidentales a la interrupción del suministro de este recurso. Un número de factores tales como la limitada disponibilidad de estos recursos, las condiciones desfavorables del mercado y el crecimiento acelerado de la demanda, se combinaron para dar lugar a esta situación inestable.

Suggested Citation

  • Scott F. Sibley, 1980. "Cobalt: A Strategic And Critical Resource For Industrialized Nations, Supplied By Developing Nations," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 4(4), pages 403-413, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:natres:v:4:y:1980:i:4:p:403-413
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1477-8947.1980.tb00998.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1477-8947.1980.tb00998.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1477-8947.1980.tb00998.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Seck, Gondia Sokhna & Hache, Emmanuel & Barnet, Charlène, 2022. "Potential bottleneck in the energy transition: The case of cobalt in an accelerating electro-mobility world," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:natres:v:4:y:1980:i:4:p:403-413. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1477-8947 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.