Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A.

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the SQM fourth quarter 2024 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Isabel Bendek. investor relations officer.

Thank you. Good morning. Thank you for joining SQM earnings conference call for the fourth quarter and full year 2024. This conference call will be recorded and is being webcast live. Our earnings press release and a presentation with a summary of the results have been uploaded at our website where you can also find a link to the webcast. Today's speakers include Gerardo Llanes, Chief Financial Officer, Carlos Diaz, CEO, Lithium Chile Division, Pablo Altimiras, CEO of Iodine and Plant Nutrition Division, Mark Fons, CEO of International Lithium Division. Also from our commercial team, we are joined by Felipe Smith, Commercial Vice President of Lithium, Juan Pablo Velolio, Commercial Vice President of Iodine and Industrial Chemicals, Also additional for lithium market related questions, Pablo Hernandez, VP of Strategy and Development, will be also available. 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 products 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 statement, please refer to our earnings press release and presentation. I am now leaving you with our Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Gerardo Illanes.

Thank you, Isabel. Good morning, and thank you all for joining today's call. Last night, we published our fourth quarter financial results. We achieved revenues slightly exceeding 4.5 billion U.S. dollars for the full year of 2024, along with a gross profit of approximately 1.3 billion U.S. dollars. Our net income for 2024 was impacted by a one-time charge of approximately $1.1 billion recorded early in the year. This charge pertains to an ongoing dispute regarding the tax treatment of mining activities at Esquien Salar. We estimate that the lithium market grew around 25% in 2024 compared to 2023, primarily driven by the strong growth of electric vehicles in China and other markets, as well as the rapid growth in the demand for lithium in energy storage systems. With this surge in demand, combined with our successful capacity expansion efforts in Chile, we achieved record sales volumes in 2024, reaching nearly 205,000 metric tons of lithium, which includes almost 4,000 metric tons of lithium carbonate equivalent, coming from Moon Holland, making a milestone in our successful partnership with West Farmers. At the same time, in the fourth quarter, we achieved a record high sales volumes, with sales surpassing 58,000 metric tons of lithium carbonate equivalent. Although we observed a decline in prices quarter over quarter in 2024, this downward trend softened during the fourth quarter, and we expect relatively stable prices during 2025. Additionally, we estimate that demand could grow approximately 17% this year and expect our sales volumes to grow at a similar rate. Moving to Iodine, we had an exceptional year in 2024, achieving record volumes and benefiting from strong price growth, largely driven by the recovery in demand, particularly in the X-ray contrast media application. For 2025, we expect continued demand growth, although at a slower pace. We expect our sales volumes of ION in 2025 to reach similar or slightly lower levels than the ones reported in 2024. We're working on bringing more capacity to the market, working on some efficiency initiatives, along with adding Maria Elena as a production site on top of Nueva Victoria and Pampa Blanca. In the fertilizer segment, we believe the market has fully recovered from the challenges of the past few years, with prices stabilizing at levels seen in the second half of 2024. Looking beyond 2025, we remain committed to investing in expansion of our core business. In 2024, we invest over 1.6 billion US dollars and will continue to invest in increasing capacity, particularly in lithium, where in 2025, we plan to allocate approximately $750 million for capacity expansion, both in Chile and abroad. Additionally, we intend to invest close to $350 million this year in the Caliche operation to keep on increasing our production capacity, aiming to add approximately 4,000 metric tons of ionized capacity in the coming years. All of these investments are supported by the company's strong financial position, which provide us with the flexibility to seize new opportunities as they arise. Operator, we can move now to Q&A session.