Chilean mining and chemical major SQM posting a net loss of $655.9 million for the first half of 2024, down from net income of $1.33 billion last year. First-half revenues came in at $2.37 billion, down 45% from the $4.32 billion posted last year. Second-quarter revenue was reported at $1.29 billion, down 37% from last year.
“In the second quarter, we continued to see positive sales volumes growth in the lithium, iodine, and fertilizer businesses,” said SQM CEO Ricardo Ramos. “While sales volumes in the lithium and iodine businesses again reached record levels, increasing by more than 20% and 11%, respectively, compared to the same period last year, sales volumes in the fertilizer business confirmed the strong demand recovery trends anticipated since the beginning of the year, increasing by more than 20% compared to the same period last year.”
First-half revenue for the Specialty Plant Nutrition business line totaled $468.2 million, nearly flat from last year’s $468.4 million, while second-quarter revenue of $260.5 million was up 5.3% from last year. SQM said the increase in 2Q revenues were driven by higher sales volumes, which offset a lower realized average price for the same period. Average prices for the quarter were down 13% from last year, while sales volumes were up 21%.
SQM noted positive trends in the potassium nitrate market during the first half of this year, characterized by robust demand growth and stable market prices. The company anticipates that total potassium nitrate market demand could increase by close to 13% compared to the total demand seen in 2023.
SQM highlighted its confidence in the long-term growth of the lithium industry, noting that it has launched SQM International Lithium to focus on developing SQM’s lithium business outside of Chile.
“Leveraging our expertise in exploration, project development, M&A, and innovation, SQM International Lithium’s objective is to expand the portfolio of lithium assets we have with various partners outside of Chile, allowing us to increase SQM’s production volumes by at least 100,000 mt of LCE per year by the end of this decade,” Ramos said.