Santiago — While Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile SA (SQM) posted an increase of net income before minority interest of 18.9 percent, to $657.4 million ($2.47 per share) for the year ending Dec. 31, 2012, from 2011’s $554.1 million ($2.07 per share), net income for the fourth-quarter was off 11 percent, to $144.4 million ($0.54 per share) from the year-ago $161.7 million ($0.60 per share). SQM full-year sales were $2.43 billion, up from $2.14 billion. Fourth-quarter sales were also up, at $601 million from the year-ago $538.9 million. SQM only saw a revenue downturn in its largest segment – Specialty Plant Nutrition (SPN) – and this was both for the year and quarter. SPN 2012 sales were $675.3 million, down from $721.7 million, while fourth-quarter were $159.5 million, slipping from $174.6 million. Within the SPN unit, only potassium nitrate volumes dropped, and they were 469,300 mt for 2012, down from 2011’s 551,100 mt. SQM said that was due to increased supply from a competitor (likely Haifa Chemicals, which had a strike in 2011), and low market growth, due mainly to the financial situation in Europe since this region is one of the most important markets for the SPN business. SPN prices were up almost 2 percent for the year. The next largest segment, Potassium Chloride/Potassium Sulfate, saw volumes increase by almost 10 percent in 2012, to 1.21 million mt from 2011’s 1.1 million. Revenues were $605.1 million, up from $555.7 million. Fourth-quarter revenues were also up, at $148.5 million from the year-ago $129.8 million.
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain