SQM - SQM scores record quarterly lithium sales but price stagnates

[[SQM]] -0.3% pre-market after Q4 results included better than expected earnings and record sales volume, and the lithium producer says it is on track to more than double its lithium capacity.SQM says Q4 lithium sales volumes jumped 50% from Q3, hitting a three-month record of more than 25K metric tons, but prices stagnated at $5,300/mt, leaving net income roughly flat vs. the same quarter in 2019."We believe that this could be the bottom of the decreasing pricing trend and that we could see higher prices during the first half of 2021," the company says.Booming growth in electric vehicle sales is providing optimism for higher prices and volumes in the coming months, and SQM sees the momentum continuing into 2021 and that lithium demand growth will approach 25% this year.SQM says it produced more than 70K mt of lithium carbonate from its operations in Chile's Atacama salt flat in 2020.

For further details see:

SQM scores record quarterly lithium sales but price stagnates