Glencore has agreed to supply cobalt to a leading Chinese battery materials company for five years, as China looks to secure supplies of the battery metal to meet rising demand for electric cars. Shenzhen-listed GEM Co, a producer of battery materials, said it had agreed to buy 61,200 tonnes of cobalt from Glencore between 2020 and 2024. The deal comes less than a year after GEM walked away from a similar supply deal, after cobalt prices plummeted due to a surge of supply from the Congo. Cobalt prices fell by over 60 per cent between the beginning of January 2018 and August this year. But prices have rebounded since August after Glencore agreed to shut its Mutanda mine in the Congo, the largest cobalt mine in the world. After hitting USD 12 a pound in August, cobalt prices have risen to $17.9 per pound, according to Fastmarkets. There were no details on pricing for the supply agreement with GEM Co released. A spokesman for Glencore confirmed the deal.