Santiago-Specialty plant nutrition revenues were up 66 percent at Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile SA (SQM) during the first quarter ending March 31, 2008, to US$170.5 million from the year-ago $102.8 million. While volumes to Brazil, Mexico, and Spain were up, the bulk of the revenue increase came from extremely favorable pricing conditions. SQM said the higher price trend for the second half of 2007 continued into the first quarter, and it expects it to continue for the rest of 2008. In fact, it believes volumes for the year could be lower due to production capacity constraints, but it says the pricing trend should more than offset the volume effect. Within the nutrition group, potassium nitrate and blended fertilizer sales were $151.8 million, up from the year-ago $89.5 million, while potassium sulfate sales were $18.8 million, up from $13.3 million. SQM-wide saw a 50.8 percent increase in net income to $64.8 million ($.25 per ADR) on sales of $326.3 million, up from the year-ago $43.0 million ($.16 per ADR) and $237.1 million, respectively.
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain