The exploitation of cobalt as a key driver for Chinese investment in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Academic Paper from the year 2023 in the subject Economics - Foreign Trade Theory, Trade Policy, grade: 1,3, University of Applied Sciences Hof (Business Department), course: International Management, language: English, abstract: Cobalt, a hard, lustrous, and silvery metal, is commonly produced as a byproduct of copper and nickel mining. The paper investigates the role of the Democratic Republic of Congo on the international cobalt market, particularly elaborating on the goals that Chinese investors pursue with their investment approach in the Central African country. Furthermore, the paper provides some background on how Chinese investors gained control over the majority of the global cobalt resources and how China intends to use the metal in the course of the "Made in China 2025" initiative.