General Discussion Topics, page-98769

I find myself in 100% agreement with you Loui ...
... and the price chart from Fastmarkets (or whoever) doesn't lend itself to telling the story that is relevant to us and so we may get some "misinterpretation"

I want to highlight the part that really should be grabbing our attention and not the price "ex-works" domestic China (I could add that I don't really care what the China price is or how many LFP batteries that produce or consume in their domestic market).

So look here


and because its hard to follow I reformulated to something a little easier to take some inferences from




1. As a spodumene producer at present, the price we care about is the green one. That will serve as a reference. With an allowance of 6.5/t of SC6 to produce one tonne of LiOH and an allowed $4,000 of "refining cost (ex-SC6), a refiner's total cost approaches $33,500/t. If I were a LiOH refiner in China (which thankly I'm never going to be) I'd be buying SC6 and selling it OUTSIDE of China.

"ex-works domestic China" means there is minimum responsibility on the seller, they just make the goods available, suitably packaged, at the specified place (in this case probably the refinery gate).

We (SYQ) would never (I think that's safe to say in this instance) be selling Carbonate (or Hydroxide) on a domestic China price. Now the implied $33,413 price for LiOH fully supports what Loui is saying ... refiners in China would be buying SC again to refine and sell outside of China.

The domestic China price, where Carbonate is selling at a (very small ~2%) premium to Hydroxide more than likely does have a lot to do with LFP battery demand ... but we know that in Asia range is not a concern and ESS is rapidly taking off ... so Carbonate in demand.

2. IF WE WERE A REFINER TODAY, surely there would be no disagreement that the product we should be producing a selling TODAY is HYDROXIDE. The "international price" for Hydroxide is at a significant premium (37%) to that of Carbonate. Yes we (SYQ) could produce a Carbonate but there has yet to be any detail disclosed by SYQ (its coming of course) as to the cost & economics for the production of either.

"CIF China/Japan/Korea" is effectively the international price. Its the price we (SYQ) are selling at the specified port. CIF is an international shipping agreement (applies only to goods transported by waterways) and represents the charges paid by the seller (SYQ) to cover the shipping costs, insurance, and freight expenses while cargo is in transit.

This is the price that matters to us.

3. Spodumene prices have started to move up again. What I see is


Love your chart Loui. Blind Freddy should be able to see the implications of it.