Forgot to insert the graph below; China is dependent on its...

Forgot to insert the graph below;

China is dependent on its spodumene imports from Australia.See the graph below. China's spodumene imports increased around 50% from 2022 to 2023, and majority of that is from Australia.

Btw, see the increase in 2022 is not a lot than 2021 however the lithium prices went ballistic in 2022 because the demand was a little bit higher than supply. You can see even the increase in 2023 from 2022 is higher than in 2022 from 2021.

So, how China closed the gap in 2023 is obvious to me. They just closed it. But there is no more room to close it in 2024 because the LCE supply needs to be over 1.3mt in 2024 (by 30% growth rate only from 1mt in 2023).

So they need to supply 300kt "MORE" from their lepidolite resources and import more petalite and zinnwaldite from Zimbabwe on top of their existing supply. That is not going to be possible. No capacity in those plants both in China lepidolite plants and Zimbabwe plants, and and no price advantage anymore.

So guys, those Chinese lithium buyers are crazy. If they feel that there will be a little bit supply risk they will buy a lot and make the prices going over the roof again. And I'm sure it will happen very soon because of production reduction in Australian mines.