China is really still a command economy driven by the Communist Party of the PRC.
So then it is safe to assume that individual companies are being run as SOEs (State owned enterprises) / SOO *(organization's as it's the American equivalent)
In knowledge of this, and assuming there has been no real transition to private ownership (incorrect?) then it is a safe bet that there is no real competition between companies within China and that collective bargaining for raw materials on the demand side could and does materially impact spot and futures contracts to an extent where one could well argue that that there are boom and bust cycles created by industry on the demand side to collectively stock pile commodities and drop prices until a low is reached at which time they can put orders in ensuring prices are low.. very common sense but only possible when factories are talking and buying as a hive.
Thus the new trend in metals appears to be they run down in Spot price as the LME quote metals stockpile (London Metals Exchange) -- Collectively wait until stockpiles are all but dwindled then order and take delivery pushing the price up and driving up volumes until again the stockpile is accumulated. (i know Lithium is mainly offtakes but the spot market is driven by demand / supply)
In regards to a lack of competition, you are absolutely correct. Without another market participant the lithium spot price will continue to be dictated by China, ASX stocks will continue to capital raise at astonishingly low levels and will continue to trade at huge discounts and be the victim of legal games to shake the weak of there shares.. the lithium demand story is very real, unfortunately its just a very bad world with lots of people that try to separate you from your profits - it's dog eat dog.
Of course, even without competition, the mathematical likelihood hood is the above will play out.. all the Chinese SEO's are going to run their inventories down to the bone but THEN we see the demand volume surge as they scramble to buy back.. the catalyst perhaps for lithium bull run 2.0 (Q2 2019?)
