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2024
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SQM profit down 63%, anticipates continued weak lithium prices
Chile’s SQM (NYSE: SQM), the world’s second-biggest lithium producer, reported a sharp 63.2% decline in quarterly profit on the back of slumping prices of the key metal used in the batteries that power electric vehicles and high tech devices.
Chile’s SQM (NYSE: SQM), the world’s second-biggest lithium producer, reported a sharp 63.2% decline in quarterly profit on the back of slumping prices of the key metal used in the batteries that power electric vehicles and high tech devices.
The company, which also manufactures fertilizers and industrial chemicals, said it expects the downward trend in lithium prices to continue for the rest of the year.
SQM’s second-quarter net profit came in at $213.6 million, or 75 cents per share, falling short of analysts’ prediction of $296.7 million, or 95 cents per share, according to LSEG data.
Revenue for the quarter reached $1.3 billion, which was in line with analysts’ expectations, based on LSEG Data and Analytics predictions.
SQM, which extracts most of the lithium it produces from brines in the Atacama salt flat of northern Chile, said record-high sales volumes could not offset depressed prices for the battery metal.
“The strong sales volumes growth in the lithium business in the second quarter was offset by significantly lower average realized lithium prices, as a result of lower market prices when compared to the same period last year,” chief executive officer, Ricardo Ramos, said in the statement.
“We see this pricing trend continuing in the second half of this year, with current lithium price indices in China nearly 20% lower than the average lithium price indices in the second quarter of 2024,” Ramos noted.
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