Translation of foreign article - interesting comments from Jose...

Translation of foreign article - interesting comments from Jose Hofer, senior analyst at consulting firm Benchmark Minerals Intelligence

Regarding the pandemic, Hofer explained that "the direct effects of the coronavirus on the supply chain have already been internalized by the market" and expanded: "We see an effect on both supply and demand. If we compare the sales of EV's in the first quarter of 2020 vs 2019 there is a reduction of close to 20%. On the supply side of lithium and its raw materials, we adjusted a forecast down 10%. Those are the immediate effects of the pandemic. In the medium term, on the side of the production of electric vehicles, there will also be an effect in the sense that no plant resumes its production 100% months after it has stopped. Therefore, in China many plants, and also in the case of battery and cathode producers, closed during late January and early February. The same happened with North American and European manufacturers in mid-March. The resumption of these activities does not happen from 0% to 80% of use immediately, but it is gradual. And that in the aggregate is going to be seen as a reduction in both supply and demand. And already in the longer term the tailpipes of the recession will come in the sense that there will be restrictions at the fiscal and budgetary level of the consumers themselves and this will be seen both in the support plans of the governments and in the consumers and their purchasing power to replace internal combustion vehicles with electric vehicles ”.

Panorama Minero.pdf