SQM lithium sales surge in Q2 driven by battery electric storage demand

Chile's SQM sold 84,100 metric tons of lithium and derivatives in the second quarter, up 58.4% from a year earlier, thanks to demand from battery electric storage systems, executives said Aug. 19.

SQM grew production from Nova Andino Litio SpA in Chile and its Covalent Lithium Pty Ltd joint-venture in Australia.

"For the longer term ... we might see some slowing in the pace at which the BESS battery implementation is growing,"Pablo Hernandez, SQM's VP of strategy and development for Nova Andino, said during the company's earnings call. "But of course, still, BESS will remain a very relevant and strong demand factor for the future."

The company increased its estimate of 2026 demand by 10.5% to 2.1 million mt of lithium carbonate equivalent, driven by "prices increased during the second quarter, supported by stronger-than-expected market demand," CEO Ricardo Ramos said.

Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, assessed the lithium triangle price at $19,400/mt FOB on June 30. The price reached $22,900/mt on May 13, up 74.8% from the start of the year.

"Based on current market conditions, we expect lithium prices to remain relatively stable during the third quarter," Ramos added in a separate statement.

The company expects to produce 280,000-290,000 mt of LCE through a combination of lithium chloride processing in Chile and lithium sulfate refining in China, and surpass 300,000 mt of production capacity by the end of 2027.

The company reported Q2 net income of $660 million, an increase of 646.4% compared with $88.4 million for the year-ago quarter.