Editorial body
Sometimes source pricing is lower for excellent reasons.
Material may be uncut.
Unsorted.
Untested.
Mixed quality.
Illiquid.
Risky.
All sensible.
But sometimes another discount appears.
It has no gemmological name.
We might call it:
the seller has nowhere else to go discount.
It is devastatingly effective.
One buyer.
Urgent liquidity.
Limited price information.
No storage strategy.
No alternate processing channel.
No direct manufacturers.
The buyer has not necessarily done anything wrong.
The structure has simply done all the negotiating on their behalf.
The source-side answer is not outrage.
It is optionality.
Three buyers are better than one.
Four markets are better than one.
Storage is sometimes valuable.
Transaction history is valuable.
Knowledge is valuable.
Time can be valuable.
The ability to say “not today” may be the most valuable asset not listed on the balance sheet.