Sociedad Química y Minera (SQM) Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

For the period ending March 31, 2023

May 18, 2023 12:00 p.m. ET

Prepared Remarks

Questions and Answers

Call Participants

Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Good day. And welcome to the SQM First Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. [Operator Instructions] After today’s presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. [Operator Instructions]

Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Irina Axenova, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Irina Axenova

Thank you, Sarah. Good morning. Thank you for joining SQM earnings conference call for the first quarter of 2023. This conference call will be recorded and is being webcast live. Our earnings press release and the presentation with a summary of the results have been uploaded into our website, where you can also find a link to the webcast.

Speaking on the call today will be Ricardo Ramos, Chief Executive Officer; and Gerardo Illanes, Chief Financial Officer. Carlos Diaz, Executive Vice President of Lithium; Felipe Smith, Commercial Vice President of Lithium; and Juan Pablo Bellolio, Commercial Vice President of Iodine will also be available to answer any questions.

Before we begin, I would like to remind you that statements made in this conference call regarding our business outlook, future economic performance, anticipated profitability, revenues, expenses and other financial items along with expected cost synergies and product or service line growth are considered forward-looking statements under federal securities laws.

These statements are not historical facts and may be subject to changes due to new information, future developments or other factors. We assume no obligation to update these statements except as required by law. For a complete forward-looking statements, please refer to our earnings press release and presentations.

I now leave with you -- I will now leave you with our Chief Executive Officer, Ricardo Ramos.

Ricardo Ramos

Good morning and thank you for joining the call today. Yesterday, we reported our earnings for the first quarter of 2023. The results were affected by lower sales volumes in Lithium and Specialty Plant Nutrition business lines, partially offset by higher average prices when compared to the same period last year.

We saw a decline in Lithium demand in the beginning of the year, especially in China, which affected our sales volumes. High inventory levels across supply chain accumulated in the previous quarter and reduced cathode production volumes resulted in low customer purchasing activity and put pressure on market prices.