SQM Litio (Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile), the world’s second-largest lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide producer after Rio Tinto, announced that the group will miss the quarterly profit estimates. News agency Reuters said that SQM warned of lower realised prices in the next quarter due to oversupply of lithium.
The company posted first-quarter net profit of $137.5 million, or 48 cents a share, compared with analysts’ estimates of $171.20 million, or 63 cents a share, according to LSEG data. SQM said its revenue for the January to March period came in at $1.04 billion, in line with analysts’ estimate of $1.045 billion, according to LSEG data.
According to Reuters, miners worldwide have been hit by a nearly 90% drop in lithium prices since their peak in late 2022 due to weaker-than-expected demand for electric vehicles and excess supply.
SQM CEO Ricardo Ramos said that SQM’s low operational costs and efforts to reduce them further during this year and next would help the company hold out for better lithium prices. “We closed the first quarter with strong growth—approximately 27% year-on-year—in lithium sales volumes. This is a reflection of the strong demand growth seen during the past few months, driven by the EV market, particularly in China, along with new demand coming from energy storage systems.”
Ramos also commented regarding the market situation: “Despite the fact that average prices reported during the first quarter 2025 were like those reported at the end of last year, we have seen lower prices during the past few weeks, as consequence of a continuously oversupplied market. Therefore, we expect lower realised prices in the second quarter of 2025.”
SQM is one of two lithium producers in Chile and also a major player in fertilisers and industrial chemicals.
Image: Lithium brine basins in northern Chile. Credit: SQM
