Lithium Recovery Sends SQM Profit to Highest in Two Years
(Bloomberg) -- Chilean lithium producer SQM delivered the highest quarterly earnings in two years on record sales volume, while signaling the global battery-metal market is finally emerging from a prolonged glut.
SQM, the world’s biggest supplier of lithium from brine deposits, reported $404 million in third-quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, slightly ahead of the average analyst estimate and the highest since the same quarter of 2023.
The Santiago-based firm is benefiting from a price recovery in recent months driven by a strong demand outlook for electric vehicles and large-scale battery storage, after years of oversupply. In the report late Tuesday, SQM raised its expectation for global lithium demand growth this year to 20%-plus from a previous call of about 17%.
“Supported by strong lithium demand, we expect the upward price trend to continue through the fourth quarter of 2025,” it wrote in a document accompanying the results.
The lithium market is shifting its focus back to demand after news coverage in the past few months was dominated by the suspension of a mine run by the world’s biggest EV battery maker, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Supply-side anxiety is being overshadowed by excitement over demand for large-scale battery storage. To be sure, while spot lithium prices are about 50% above a June low, they’re still about 85% below a 2022 peak.
One of SQM’s biggest rivals, Albemarle Corp., said earlier this month that global EV sales rose 30% and lithium-ion battery demand for stationary storage jumped 105% year-on-year in the nine months through September. On Sunday, Ganfeng Lithium Group Co. Chairman Li Liangbin was quoted as saying that demand is expected to grow 30% next year.
“Easier comparisons, higher average realized prices and increased sales volumes should support a better close to 2025” for SQM, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Sean Gilmartin wrote last week.
(Updates with forecast comparison in second paragraph and quote in third)
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