Good News & Bad News, page-40483

The SMM is a farce, designed to keep the price of SC6 and any non Chinese sources of feedstock suppressed. It is worth noting that the “action” is almost always related to Lithium Carbonate, even though the two most important commodities SHOULD be SC6 and LiOH.

To date, there’s no proof that ANYONE actually purchases Lithium Carbonate off the SMM futures exchange, and if they do, it’s the OEMs. It’s being utilized to control other commodities related to Lithium Carbonate.

Part of the reasoning behind the upcoming PLS BMX auction is to test the waters and “prove” that the current SMM pricing scheme is nonsense. Note that only 5,000 kt of SC (5.3) is up for sale. PLS is going to produce AT LEAST 680 kt of SC 5.3 this year, so 5K kt is a nothing burger, but it will show if downstream is desperate for feedstock (and whether the “market” is full of cow dookie).

Best regards