Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A.

hello everyone and welcome to the sqm first quarter 2025 earnings conference call at this time all participants are in a listen-only mode after the speaker's presentation there will be a question and answer session to participate you will need to press star 1 1 on your telephone you will then hear a message advising your hand is raised to withdraw your question simply press star 1 1 again please note This event is being recorded. Now it's my pleasure to turn the call over to the Investor Relations Officer, Isabel Bentec. The floor is yours.

Thank you, operator. Good morning and thank you for joining SQM Earnings Conference Call for the first quarter of 2025. This is the conference call will be recorded and it's being webcast live. Our earnings, press release, and 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 CEO Ricardo Ramos, CFO Gerardo Llanes, Carlos Diaz, CEO of Lithium Chile Division, Pablo Altimiras, CEO of Iodine and Plant Nutrition Division, Andres Fontanas, Commercial Vice President of International Lithium Division. Felipe Smith, Commercial Vice President of Lithium Chile Division. Pablo Hernandez, Vice President of Strategy and Development of Lithium Chile Division. And Juan Pablo Velolio, Commercial Vice President of Ion and Industrial Chemicals. 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 the federal securities law. These statements are not historical facts and may be subject to changes due to new information, future development, 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 executive officer, Mr. Ricardo Ramos.

Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. We're pleased to report that SKM began 2025 with solid operational and commercial performance. In the first quarter, we achieved the highest first quarter lithium sales volumes in our company's history, driven by a 20% year-on-year increase. This growth reflects sustained strong demand, particularly from electric vehicles markets in China and Europe, as well as growing adoption of energy storage systems worldwide. Lithium prices, on the other hand, were relatively stable during the first quarter of 2025, but over the past few weeks, we have seen a decline in prices that we don't think is sustainable. In the industry, it was already showing negative results. In any case, as a result of this, our average realized prices for the second quarter of 2025 should be lower than the levels seen in the first quarter. In Australia, the production of spodumene concentrate at Mount Holland is progressing well and the commissioning of the Kiwana refinery is also moving forward with the expectation to see first product in the coming month. In Chile, we continue working in our capacity expansions to reach capacity to 240,000 metric tons of lithium carbonate and 100,000 metric tons of lithium hydroxide. Moving to our iodine business, we are pleased with another strong quarter. Prices have reached a record average amidst tight supply and steady demand, primarily driven by the X-ray contrast media application. Our seawater pipeline construction is advancing rapidly and will be key to expanding production capacity. In the meantime, we're investing in operational efficiencies to respond to customer needs and optimize output. In specialty plant nutrition, sales volume grew at a healthy pace. We also saw an upward trend in prices early in this year, mainly due to a strong demand for potassium chloride and some supply disruptions. Market dynamics remain favorable across Latin America, the US, and Europe. In our potassium business, as anticipated, volumes were significantly lower compared to the same period last year. This reflects our strategy to reduce potassium production to give priority to high lithium content brines, and focus on the production of more value-added products within our SPN business lines. To summarize, SGM delivered strong commercial results in the first quarter despite a complex pricing environment. Our long-term fundamentals remain intact. We are confident in our strategy, our investment in capacity and innovation, and our commitment to sustainable high-quality growth. Thank you all.