SQM earnings follo on lower lithium prices

SQM (NYSE:SQM) -3.5% in Wednesday's trading after reporting sharp declines in Q2 profit and revenues as spot lithium prices suffered their worst quarter in many years, and sales volumes fell compared to Q1.

Global prices for lithium have plunged nearly 90% since their peak in late 2022, and Q2 prices plunged 34% Y/Y, the company said.

"As anticipated, during the second quarter, we navigated a period of lower lithium market prices than those observed in previous quarters. In this context, some of the contracts we had in place, hit the lower limits set in those contracts, affecting the volumes agreed," SQM (NYSE:SQM) CEO Ricardo Ramos said.

SQM (SQM) said adjusted attributable core earnings fell to $307.9M in the quarter, but it is pressing ahead with an expansion, saying sales volumes from its domestic plants will grow 10% this year, and it raised sales guidance for its international division to ~20K tons of lithium carbonate equivalent.

"Recent market dynamics make us believe that third quarter prices could be higher than the second quarter," SQM (SQM) said in slides accompanying its earnings report.