Company: SQM
Filing Date: 2025-04-24
Form Type: 20-F
Source: 0000909037-25-000020
Chunk: 61

Company: CHEMICAL & MINING CO OF CHILE INC
Filing Date: 2025-04-24
Form: 20-F
Item: Item 4
Chunk 61
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: (i) concentrated brines and (ii) minerals. During 2024, the main lithium brines producers were Chile, Argentina and China, while the main lithium mineral producers were Australia and China. Other relevant regions for lithium production were Brazil and Zimbabwe. With total sales of approximately 204.9 thousand metric tons of lithium carbonate and hydroxide, we believe our market share of lithium chemicals was approximately 17% in 2024. The main competitors in the lithium market with their estimated market share are: Albemarle (14%), Jiangxi Ganfeng Lithium Co (6%), Tianqi Lithium Corp. (6%) and Arcadium Lithium (4%).
Tianqi is also a significant shareholder of SQM, holding approximately 22.16% of SQM's shares as of March 31, 2025.
We believe that lithium production will continue to increase this decade, in response to an increase in demand growth. 
Potassium
In 2024, our potassium chloride and potassium sulfate revenues amounted to US$270.8 million, representing 6.0% of our total revenues and a 3.0% decrease compared to 2023, due to lower prices, partially offset by higher sales volumes during the year. The average price for 2024 was approximately 24.2% lower than the average prices in 2023. Our sales volumes in 2024 were approximately 28.0% higher than sales volumes reported during 2023.
The following table shows our sales volumes of and revenues from potassium chloride and potassium sulfate for 2024, 2023 and 2022:

2024                                                                          2023                   2022
Sales volumes (Th. MT)                                                                                   
Potassium chloride and potassium sulfate              695.0                  543.1                  480.5
Total revenues (in US$millions)                   270.8                   279.1                  437.2   
Potassium: Market
During the last decade, demand for potassium chloride and fertilizers in general has increased due to several factors, such as a growing world population, higher demand for protein-based diets, and less arable land. These factors contribute to fertilizer demand growth as a result of efforts to maximize crop yields and continue to use resources more efficiently. We estimate that global demand in 2024 reached approximately 72 million metric tons, an increase from approximately 68 million tons during 2023, primarily due to lower prices and increased availability