智利化工礦業 (SQM) 2020 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and welcome to the SQM Third Quarter 2020 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note this event is being recorded.

美好的一天，歡迎來到 SQM 2020 年第三季度收益電話會議。（操作員說明）請注意正在記錄此事件。

I would like now to turn the conference over to Kelly O'Brien, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

我現在想將會議轉交給投資者關係主管 Kelly O'Brien。請繼續。

Good morning. Thank you for joining SQM's Third Quarter 2020 Earnings Conference Call. This conference call will be recorded and is being webcast live. Following this call, you'll be able to access the webcast at our website, www.sqm.com. Our earnings press release and the presentation with a summary of the results have been uploaded to our website.

早上好。感謝您參加 SQM 2020 年第三季度收益電話會議。此電話會議將被錄音並進行網絡直播。電話會議結束後，您將能夠在我們的網站 www.sqm.com 上收聽網絡廣播。我們的收益新聞稿和包含結果摘要的演示文稿已上傳到我們的網站。

Joining the call today as speakers are Ricardo Ramos, CEO; Gerardo Illanes, CFO; and Pablo Altimiras, Vice President of Lithium and Iodine businesses.

今天作為發言人加入電話會議的是首席執行官里卡多·拉莫斯 (Ricardo Ramos)；首席財務官 Gerardo Illanes；以及鋰和碘業務副總裁 Pablo Altimiras。

Before we like -- before we begin, let me remind you that statements in this conference concerning the company's business outlook, future economic performances, anticipated profitability, revenues, expenses and other financial items, anticipated cost synergies and product or service line growth, together with other statements that are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements as the term is defined under federal securities laws.

在我們開始之前——在我們開始之前，讓我提醒您，本次會議中有關公司業務前景、未來經濟表現、預期盈利能力、收入、費用和其他財務項目、預期成本協同效應以及產品或服務線增長的陳述，以及與其他非歷史事實的陳述一起，根據聯邦證券法的定義，屬於前瞻性陳述。

Any forward-looking statements are estimates reflected -- reflecting the best judgment of SQM based on currently available information and involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those stated in such statements, including our ability to successfully implement the sustainable development plan.

任何前瞻性陳述都是預估——反映了 SQM 根據當前可用信息做出的最佳判斷，並涉及許多風險、不確定性和其他可能導致實際結果與此類陳述中所述結果大不相同的因素，包括我們的能力成功實施可持續發展計劃。

Risks, uncertainties and factors that could affect the accuracy of such forward-looking statements are identified in our public filings made with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and with our earnings release issued today, and these forward-looking statements should be considered in light of those factors. We assume no obligation to update such statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as required by law.

可能影響此類前瞻性陳述準確性的風險、不確定性和因素已在我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的公開文件和我們今天發布的收益報告中確定，這些前瞻性陳述應根據那些因素。我們不承擔更新此類聲明的義務，無論是由於新信息、未來發展還是其他原因，除非法律要求。

I now leave you with our CEO, Ricardo Ramos.

我現在讓您留給我們的首席執行官里卡多·拉莫斯 (Ricardo Ramos)。

Thank you, Kelly. Good morning. Thank you for joining our earnings call today. Our gross profit, as you know, was approximately $115 million, similar to average gross profit during the first half. Our average iodine prices held steady, and our sales volumes in the lithium business line were up over 40% compared to the last quarter and almost 60% higher than what we sold in the third quarter last year.

謝謝你，凱利。早上好。感謝您參加我們今天的財報電話會議。如您所知，我們的毛利潤約為 1.15 億美元，與上半年的平均毛利潤相似。我們的平均碘價格保持穩定，鋰業務線的銷量與上一季度相比增長了 40% 以上，比去年第三季度的銷量增長了近 60%。

Recent months, we have been very busy and dedicated to our efforts related to sustainability. Last month, we proudly announced our sustainability development plan, which includes voluntarily expanding our monitoring system, promoting embedded and more profound conversations with neighboring communities and becoming carbon-neutral and reducing water by 65% and brine extraction by 50%.

最近幾個月，我們一直非常忙碌，致力於與可持續發展相關的工作。上個月，我們自豪地宣布了我們的可持續發展計劃，其中包括自願擴大我們的監測系統，促進與鄰近社區的深入和更深入的對話，實現碳中和以及減少 65% 的用水量和 50% 的鹽水提取量。

As part of this plan, we also made a goal of obtaining international certifications and participating in international sustainability indices. In September, we began the self-assessment process in the Salar de Atacama under IRMA, which is the first step in the certification process for this strict standard. And last week, we were accepted into the Dow Jones Sustainability Index Chile and the Dow Jones Sustainability Index MILA Pacific Alliance Index. We have always been committed to environmental protection and social responsibility. And now we feel prepared and proud to share our commitments and goals with all of you. I invite you to visit our company website to learn more about the sustainability development plan and online monitoring system, and I encourage you to reach out to us with any questions or concerns about this plan.

作為該計劃的一部分，我們還制定了獲得國際認證和參與國際可持續發展指數的目標。9 月，我們根據 IRMA 在阿塔卡馬鹽沼開始了自我評估過程，這是這一嚴格標準認證過程的第一步。上週，我們被納入道瓊斯可持續發展指數智利和道瓊斯可持續發展指數 MILA 太平洋聯盟指數。我們一直致力於環境保護和社會責任。現在，我們準備好並自豪地與大家分享我們的承諾和目標。我邀請您訪問我們公司的網站以了解有關可持續發展計劃和在線監測系統的更多信息，如果您對該計劃有任何疑問或疑慮，我鼓勵您與我們聯繫。

I will now pass the call to Pablo Altimiras, who will comment more on the iodine and lithium market.

我現在將電話轉給 Pablo Altimiras，他將對碘和鋰市場發表更多評論。

Good morning, everyone. Thank you, Ricardo. In the iodine market, we saw a more negative impact on the iodine demand, expecting to decrease approximately 8% or 9% in 2020 compared to last year as a result of COVID-19. This impact was seen in the iodine market as a whole, but mostly in the x-ray contrast media segment. We believe that demand will recover when the impact of the pandemic fades away.

大家，早安。謝謝你，里卡多。在碘市場，由於 COVID-19，我們預計 2020 年碘需求將比去年下降約 8% 或 9%。這種影響體現在整個碘市場，但主要體現在 X 射線造影劑領域。我們相信，當大流行的影響消退時，需求將會恢復。

After a slow start of the year, our lithium sales have been gaining momentum. As Ricardo mentioned, our lithium sales volumes surpassed 17,700 (sic) [17,600] metric tons in the third quarter, and we expect this strong volume growth to continue into fourth quarter. This growth is a result of the strong demand recovery in the second half of the year and, more importantly, our ability to sustain relationships with existing clients and acquire new customers around the world. We have been able to do this as a result of improving the quality of our products and being able to meet all of our customers' requirements, all while increasing efficiencies in our production process and ensuring our low cost position.

在今年開局緩慢之後，我們的鋰銷量一直在增長。正如 Ricardo 提到的，我們的鋰銷量在第三季度超過 17,700 (sic) [17,600] 公噸，我們預計這種強勁的銷量增長將持續到第四季度。這一增長是下半年需求強勁復甦的結果，更重要的是，我們有能力維持與現有客戶的關係並在全球範圍內獲得新客戶。我們之所以能夠做到這一點，是因為我們提高了產品質量並能夠滿足所有客戶的要求，同時提高了生產過程的效率並確保了我們的低成本地位。

The demand recovery seen in recent months, most of which was in Asia, were as a result of the pandemic. We have seen an increase in the demand of e-bikes and scooters and personal computers. This demand was in addition to a significant increase in electric vehicle sales in Europe and Asia. To quantify this a bit, in the third quarter, we believe electric vehicles unit sales increased in China approximately 40%, and in Europe, more than 170% year-on-year.

最近幾個月出現的需求復蘇，其中大部分是在亞洲，是大流行的結果。我們已經看到對電動自行車、踏板車和個人電腦的需求在增加。這種需求是歐洲和亞洲電動汽車銷量顯著增長的補充。稍微量化一下，在第三季度，我們認為中國電動汽車銷量同比增長約 40%，歐洲同比增長超過 170%。

Although there is still uncertainty surrounding the pandemic and the economic impact on the lithium market in the near future, we remain optimistic about the long-term growth perspective in the lithium space.

儘管近期疫情和對鋰市場的經濟影響仍存在不確定性，但我們對鋰領域的長期增長前景保持樂觀。

We expect to see a strong demand growth in 2021 and beyond. Because of this, we expect to increase our sales volumes by more than 30% in 2021 when compared to our expected 2020 sales volume, which is aligned with our strategy to grow our lithium market share.

我們預計 2021 年及以後的需求將強勁增長。因此，與我們預期的 2020 年銷量相比，我們預計 2021 年的銷量將增加 30% 以上，這符合我們擴大鋰市場份額的戰略。

For this reason, we have laid out a robust CapEx plan, for which I will let Gerardo Illanes, our CFO, to comment.

出於這個原因，我們制定了一個強有力的資本支出計劃，對此我將讓我們的首席財務官 Gerardo Illanes 發表評論。

Thank you, Pablo, and thank you, everyone, for joining the call today. Last night, in our press release, we described details of our 2021-2024 investment plan, which will require approximately $1.3 billion in Chile. This plan will include the completion of our lithium expansion plans that are currently underway at our facilities near Antofagasta, requiring approximately $240 million.

謝謝 Pablo，也謝謝大家今天加入電話會議。昨晚，在我們的新聞稿中，我們描述了 2021-2024 年投資計劃的細節，該計劃將需要在智利投資約 13 億美元。該計劃將包括完成我們目前正在安託法加斯塔附近的設施進行的鋰擴張計劃，需要大約 2.4 億美元。

Additionally, yesterday, the Board approved an expansion plan to reach 180,000 metric tons of lithium carbonate and 30,000 metric tons of lithium hydroxide capacity in 2023, requiring an investment of approximately $150 million.

此外，昨天，董事會批准了一項擴建計劃，到 2023 年達到 18 萬噸碳酸鋰和 3 萬噸氫氧化鋰產能，需要投資約 1.5 億美元。

In short, we will invest just under $400 million in lithium expansions in the coming years.

簡而言之，我們將在未來幾年投資近 4 億美元用於鋰擴產。

As mentioned last night, our plans to develop the Mt. Holland lithium hydroxide project continues. We have been working diligently with our partners finalizing some studies, and we'll make a definitive investment decision in January 2021. Any potential future CapEx related to this project is not included in the $1.3 billion CapEx outlined in the press release yesterday.

正如昨晚提到的，我們計劃開發 Mt.荷蘭氫氧化鋰項目繼續進行。我們一直在與我們的合作夥伴一起努力完成一些研究，我們將在 2021 年 1 月做出最終的投資決定。與該項目相關的任何潛在未來資本支出均未包括在昨天新聞稿中概述的 13 億美元資本支出中。

Given our history of maintaining a diverse portfolio, we are working to increase our production of nitrates and iodine as well. We plan to increase our annual production of nitrates and iodine by approximately 250,000 and 3,000 metric tons per year, respectively. To achieve this, we will modify our operations to incorporate the use of seawater and update our mining equipment and operational centers. It is expected that these investments at the mining site and plant facilities will require approximately $440 million. This expansion plan give us the assurance that we will be able to meet the future needs in the iodine, potassium nitrate and solar salt markets.

鑑於我們保持多元化產品組合的歷史，我們也在努力增加硝酸鹽和碘的產量。我們計劃將硝酸鹽和碘的年產量分別增加約 250,000 和 3,000 公噸。為實現這一目標，我們將修改我們的運營以納入海水的使用，並更新我們的採礦設備和運營中心。預計這些對礦場和工廠設施的投資將需要大約 4.4 億美元。這一擴張計劃讓我們確信，我們將能夠滿足碘、硝酸鉀和日曬鹽市場的未來需求。

In addition, maintenance for the 4-year period from 2021 to 2024 will be approximately $120 million per year, while depreciation and amortization should be between $200 million to $250 million per year.

此外，從 2021 年到 2024 年的 4 年期間的維護費用每年約為 1.2 億美元，而折舊和攤銷每年應在 2 億美元至 2.5 億美元之間。

We have a strong balance sheet, and we have always been conservative in our financial investment policies, being always a strong equity-weighted company. The financing strategy will be discussed in December and relevant information will be shared with the market in a timely manner.

我們擁有強大的資產負債表，我們在金融投資政策上一直很保守，一直是一家強大的股票加權公司。融資策略將於12月討論，相關信息將及時與市場分享。

Thank you, operator. And now we can go to the Q&A session.

謝謝你，運營商。現在我們可以進入問答環節了。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Joel Jackson with BMO Capital Markets.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 BMO Capital Markets 的 Joel Jackson。

I have a few questions. I'll ask them one by one. So I guess I'd like to know that you finally now approved the lithium expansions to 180,000 tons carbonate, how do you expect to place those tons in the market? I know because of the iodine experience, you have not liked contracts. I mean, one of your larger lithium competitors seems to be doing quite well under price realizations versus you with contracts. Will you seek to go out to get longer-term contracts to be able to ensure you can sell up to 180,000 tons at attractive prices?

我有幾個問題。我會一一問問他們。所以我想我想知道你現在終於批准了將鋰擴產到 180,000 噸碳酸鹽，你希望如何將這些噸投放市場？我知道由於碘的經驗，你不喜歡合同。我的意思是，你的一個較大的鋰競爭對手似乎在價格實現方面與你在合同方面做得相當好。您是否會尋求獲得長期合同以確保您可以以有吸引力的價格出售多達 180,000 噸？

Okay, Pablo Altimiras speaking. Regarding to long-term contracts, yes, you're right that we have been some competitors that today have some long-term contracts with some customers. We are working on that as well. We are trying to have long-term contracts. And well, today, that we believe that our position is better because exactly what we are doing, expanding capacity and producing more volumes. We believe that and a step-like expansion will allow us to secure long-term contracts for sure. We are working hard in order to do that.

好的，請 Pablo Altimiras 發言。關於長期合同，是的，你是對的，我們是一些競爭對手，今天與一些客戶簽訂了一些長期合同。我們也在努力。我們正在努力簽訂長期合同。好吧，今天，我們相信我們的處境更好，因為我們正在做的就是擴大產能和生產更多的產品。我們相信，逐步擴張將使我們能夠確保獲得長期合同。為了做到這一點，我們正在努力工作。

Regard to your question on prices, yes, today, maybe we have some difference regarding to prices. In the past, when we have the boon of the lithium demand, you saw that the price was so high in some markets. And if you have a long-term contract, well, the price of your contract was different to the spot price. That's happened with the long contract. But at the end, our customers, what they want is to secure the supply, and we are aligned on that. And that's why we will continue to secure some long-term contracts in the near future.

關於您關於價格的問題，是的，今天，也許我們在價格方面存在一些差異。過去，當我們有鋰需求的好處時，你會看到一些市場的價格如此之高。如果你有一份長期合同，那麼你的合同價格與現貨價格不同。長期合同就是這樣。但最後，我們的客戶，他們想要的是確保供應，我們在這一點上是一致的。這就是為什麼我們將在不久的將來繼續獲得一些長期合同。

Okay. And as you triple sales volumes over the next 5 years, wherever it's going to be, can you talk about how your cost of -- assuming kind of, let's take the price of lithium out and just talk about kind of like a non-royalty, non-CORFO, just non-community payments, just cash costs for lithium. You're going to triple your volume over 5 years, let's say. You also have a lot more things going on for sustainability, reducing brine; you're changing how you do things, you're changing the potash you produce. What will costs look like as you ramp your volume a lot, but now have a lot more sustainability costs and network changes?

好的。當你在未來 5 年內將銷量翻三倍時，無論它會在哪裡，你能談談你的成本——假設某種程度上，讓我們把鋰的價格去掉，然後談談類似非特許權使用費的費用，非 CORFO，只是非共同體支付，只是鋰的現金成本。比方說，您將在 5 年內將銷量增加兩倍。在可持續發展方面還有很多事情要做，減少鹽水；你正在改變你做事的方式，你正在改變你生產的鉀肥。當你大量增加你的數量，但現在有更多的可持續性成本和網絡變化時，成本會是什麼樣子？

Joel, this is Gerardo speaking. Well, you have seen on our financial statements, we have been lowering our production cost of lithium quarter after quarter, as promised when we finish our ramp-up expansion to reach 70,000 metric tons. Of course, I'm excluding CORFO effects in there. And you see that the prices -- sorry, the costs we reported in the third quarter were -- ex-CORFO, were under $4,000. We are working in these projects that will let us expand our capacity significantly. And this expansion of capacity will also come with more efficiencies in production that will let us keep on lowering our cost.

喬爾，我是杰拉爾多。好吧，你已經在我們的財務報表中看到，我們一直在逐季降低鋰的生產成本，正如我們在完成產能擴張以達到 70,000 公噸時所承諾的那樣。當然，我排除了其中的 CORFO 效應。而且你看到價格 - 抱歉，我們在第三季度報告的成本 - ex-CORFO，低於 4,000 美元。我們正在開展這些項目，這些項目將使我們能夠顯著擴大我們的能力。這種產能擴張也將帶來更高的生產效率，這將使我們能夠繼續降低成本。

Now regarding your question about sustainability and how that may impact our cost. Well, we have been working on sustainability initiatives for a long time. And part of these costs are already included in the cost of what we're doing. And the challenge for us and the challenge for everyone in the industry is to be able to produce in a sustainable way without having a strong impact on the cost.

現在關於您關於可持續性的問題以及這可能如何影響我們的成本。好吧，我們長期以來一直致力於可持續發展計劃。這些成本的一部分已經包含在我們正在做的事情的成本中。我們和行業中每個人面臨的挑戰是能夠以可持續的方式生產而不會對成本產生重大影響。

Okay. And just finally, you've done really well in iodine. You have really done well the last several years to push up the price of iodine every quarter. COVID happened this year. You took a step back in the third quarter on sequential pricing. How do you see -- when do you think iodine prices can get back to $35 a kilo? What's the -- say with volume, like when do you see coming back to the level you achieved not that long ago? Is it going to be 2 years? 3 years? 1 year? What's your base case?

好的。最後，你在碘方面做得非常好。過去幾年你真的做得很好，每個季度都在推高碘價。新冠肺炎發生在今年。您在第三季度在順序定價方面退後了一步。您怎麼看——您認為碘價什麼時候可以回到每公斤 35 美元？什麼是 - 說音量，比如你什麼時候看到回到你不久前達到的水平？會是2年嗎？3年？1年？你的基本情況是什麼？

Okay. Well, you know the demand was affected by COVID-19, but the first thing that is important to say is that we believe that this is something temporary, which is not related with the fundamentals of the market. We believe in the fundamentals. We don't see any important change in the fundamentals of the demand. And actually, remember that when prices started to go up because of the growth, the demand was bigger than the growth of the supply.

好的。嗯，你知道需求受到 COVID-19 的影響，但首先要說的是，我們認為這是暫時的，與市場基本面無關。我們相信基本面。我們沒有看到需求的基本面有任何重要變化。實際上，請記住，當價格因增長而開始上漲時，需求大於供應的增長。

Regarding to the supply, we have not seen any big change. So what we are doing today is to reveal our inventories, that will allow us to reach healthy levels once the demand recovery arise.

關於供應，我們沒有看到任何大的變化。因此，我們今天要做的是公佈我們的庫存，一旦需求復蘇出現，這將使我們能夠達到健康水平。

And regarding to the recovery, well, we are optimistic because of the news. So we expect that in the near future, and we believe that will happen in the next year, we will see a recovery of the demand levels to reach similar levels to 2019.

關於復蘇，好吧，我們因為這個消息而感到樂觀。因此，我們預計在不久的將來，我們相信這將在明年發生，我們將看到需求水平的複蘇，達到與 2019 年相似的水平。

Just one more question. When you talk about the long-term lithium contracts you might seek, would you be seeking fixed contracts, fixed-price contracts or floating price contracts?

還有一個問題。當你談到你可能尋求的長期鋰合同時，你會尋求固定合同、固定價格合同還是浮動價格合同？

Well, you know that it is important at the end to try to get good contracts, and when I say good contracts, it's from the customers but also from the suppliers' point of view. And in that regard, the needs of the different customers are different. So depending on the customers, depending on the strategy that you have with these specific customers, we do different things. So you have alternatives which is related to quality, pricing, volumes. So I would say that it is specific to -- for every customer.

好吧，你知道最終獲得好的合同很重要，當我說好的合同時，它來自客戶，也來自供應商的角度。在這方面，不同客戶的需求是不同的。因此，根據客戶，根據您對這些特定客戶的策略，我們會做不同的事情。因此，您有與質量、定價和數量相關的替代方案。所以我想說它是針對每個客戶的。

Our next question comes from P.J. Juvekar with Citigroup.

我們的下一個問題來自花旗集團的 P.J. Juvekar。

Can you talk about how much inventory do you -- are you carrying, either in terms of months of supply or in terms of dollars? And when do you think inventories will return to normal? And what is normal for you?

你能談談你有多少庫存，無論是按供應月數還是按美元計算？您認為庫存何時會恢復正常？什麼對你來說是正常的？

Okay. So regarding to inventories, as you know, we have been producing at a very good production rate in the last month, which has been allowing us to recover our inventory positions in order to face the sales forecast that we have today. We announced that we want to excel 30% more next year compared to this year. And we will have -- and today, we have enough inventory to go ahead with this program. So we don't see any issue regarding to our inventories.

好的。因此，關於庫存，如您所知，我們在上個月一直以非常好的生產率生產，這使我們能夠恢復我們的庫存狀況，以面對我們今天的銷售預測。我們宣布，我們希望明年比今年多出 30%。我們將擁有 - 今天，我們有足夠的庫存來繼續執行該計劃。所以我們沒有看到任何關於我們庫存的問題。

That was, I think, last quarter, you mentioned, I think it was close to $1 billion of inventory that you had -- sorry, not billion. Sorry, I meant $100 million of inventory you had. Can you just sort of talk about how much inventory do you have in lithium?

那是，我想，上個季度，你提到過，我認為你擁有的庫存接近 10 億美元——抱歉，不是 10 億美元。對不起，我的意思是你有 1 億美元的存貨。你能談談你有多少鋰庫存嗎？

P.J., this is Gerardo Illanes. Yes, we do have more than $1 billion of inventories across the board. You can see that in our financial statement. That includes inventories of iodine, lithium, nitrates, basic materials and so on and so forth.

P.J.，這是 Gerardo Illanes。是的，我們確實擁有超過 10 億美元的全面庫存。你可以在我們的財務報表中看到這一點。這包括碘、鋰、硝酸鹽、基礎材料等的庫存。

Regarding the specific level of inventories that we have in each particular business line, we don't disclose that information. But as Pablo was saying, we have enough inventories to be able to comply with the growth we are projecting for next year.

關於我們在每個特定業務線中的具體庫存水平，我們不會透露該信息。但正如 Pablo 所說，我們有足夠的庫存來滿足我們明年的增長預測。

Okay. And my second question is, other companies are talking about a trend towards regionalization of supply chain, [speak] after COVID. So how much of your lithium exports go to China? And let's say, Europe is certainly kicking into higher gear. EV sales are high. And as the European market develops, what's your strategy towards selling into Europe? And how are you positioned there?

好的。我的第二個問題是，在 COVID 之後，其他公司正在談論供應鏈區域化的趨勢。那麼你們有多少鋰出口到中國？比方說，歐洲肯定正在加速發展。電動汽車銷量很高。隨著歐洲市場的發展，您在歐洲銷售的策略是什麼？你在那裡的位置如何？

Well, you know that in SQM, as a lithium producer, we have been in industry for many, many years, so that means that we supply to many, many customers around the world. But today, you are right, our exposition in -- exposure in China is big. I would say that more than 40% of our sales today are in China. But this is -- it's plainly because you know that more than 50% of the lithium demand is in China, and that is explained because of the EV's revolution and battery manufacturers and car manufacturers. But our strategy will continue to be for all the customers. Remember that we are talking about here not only demand of lithium for electric vehicles and batteries. We have the industrial applications. For us, it is important to remain relationship with those customers and to support those customers in also their expansion plans.

好吧，你知道在 SQM，作為鋰生產商，我們已經在這個行業工作了很多年，這意味著我們為世界各地的許多客戶提供服務。但是今天，你是對的，我們的展覽在中國的曝光率很高。我想說，我們今天 40% 以上的銷售額都在中國。但這很明顯，因為你知道超過 50% 的鋰需求在中國，這可以解釋為電動汽車的革命以及電池製造商和汽車製造商。但我們的戰略將繼續為所有客戶服務。請記住，我們在這裡談論的不僅僅是電動汽車和電池對鋰的需求。我們有工業應用。對我們來說，與這些客戶保持關係並支持這些客戶的擴張計劃非常重要。

Our next question comes from Isabella Simonato with Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Isabella Simonato。

First of all, I'd like to ask about iodine. You also mentioned in the release, right, you're ready to -- with the expansion plans by 3,000 tons. I just like to get more details of the time frame for that. And when we think about sales, right, in the long term, these 3,000 tons additional should yield about 16,000 tons potentially of sales when the expansion is ready. Just wanted to confirm that.

首先，我想問一下碘。你還在新聞稿中提到，對，你已經準備好 - 擴建計劃增加 3,000 噸。我只想了解有關時間框架的更多詳細信息。當我們考慮銷售時，從長遠來看，當擴張准備就緒時，這 3,000 噸的額外產量應該會產生約 16,000 噸的潛在銷售量。只是想確認一下。

And also, I would like to know how -- what's your outlook for prices of potash and SPN. We understand that demand for SPN is actually quite resilient but prices have been coming down. How are you thinking about pricing in 2021?

而且，我想知道如何 - 你對鉀肥和 SPN 價格的前景如何。我們了解到，對 SPN 的需求實際上非常有彈性，但價格一直在下降。您如何考慮 2021 年的定價？

Isabella, Ricardo speaking. About our CapEx in the iodine business, we are working very hard as it's imputed in the $1.3 billion already mentioned by Gerardo. We expect to be higher than 15,000 metric tons of iodine at the end of 2024. That's very important for us to be at that level, and we are more than ready in order to be prepared for the market and demand recovery that we do expect next year. We have inventories of iodine today, and we think that the market will recover, and we will have more capacity included in the CapEx that is already mentioned. And I think it's going to be ready 2023, 2024.

伊莎貝拉，我是里卡多。關於我們在碘業務中的資本支出，我們正在非常努力地工作，因為它已計入 Gerardo 已經提到的 13 億美元。我們預計到 2024 年底，碘的產量將超過 15,000 公噸。達到這個水平對我們來說非常重要，我們已經做好充分準備，為我們預計明年的市場和需求復蘇做好準備。我們今天有碘庫存，我們認為市場將會復蘇，我們將在已經提到的資本支出中包含更多產能。我認為它將在 2023 年、2024 年準備就緒。

On price of the fertilizer, first, in order to answer this question, you have to consider first that the demand in some way this year was -- has been lower than originally expected to the effect of the COVID in some specific markets.

關於化肥的價格，首先，為了回答這個問題，你必須首先考慮今年的需求在某種程度上是 - 在某些特定市場中受 COVID 的影響低於最初預期。

Second, the low price of MOP. MOP means potash pricing this year is lower than last year. And you have to consider MOP is the main raw material using by our competitors in order to produce potassium nitrate. We had some due to the fact that demand was lower. We faced more competition in some markets. My short-term outlook here is that the pricing that we are having today is reasonable to expect to have some price recovery maybe next year as compared to what we are having, third and fourth quarter this year. And certainly, we think that all the signals are going in the direction that the demand will increase. Some of the demand that was not there this year will be recovered during next year. Your next question, I think?

二是澳門幣價格低。MOP 意味著今年的鉀肥價格低於去年。你必須考慮到氯化鉀是我們的競爭對手用來生產硝酸鉀的主要原料。由於需求較低，我們有一些。我們在某些市場面臨更多競爭。我的短期展望是，與今年第三和第四季度的定價相比，我們今天的定價是合理的，預計明年可能會有一些價格回升。當然，我們認為所有信號都朝著需求增加的方向發展。今年沒有的一些需求將在明年恢復。你的下一個問題，我想？

So I just wanted to confirm what Ricardo said about the iodine volume. So it should be more -- even more than 16,000 tons when expansion is done in 2024, right?

所以我只想確認里卡多所說的碘量。所以它應該更多——到 2024 年完成擴建時甚至超過 16,000 噸，對嗎？

Yes. Yes, of course, we're working very hard in order to have the [16,000]. That's for sure.

是的。是的，當然，我們正在非常努力地工作以獲得 [16,000]。這是肯定的。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from Cesar Perez-Novoa with BTG Pactual.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自 BTG Pactual 的 Cesar Perez-Novoa。

Ricardo, Gerardo, Pablo, Kelly. On your -- I have 2 questions. On your recently announced investment program for iodine and lithium, could you please provide more color on what steps need to be taken from an environmental and regulatory standpoint to make that effective?

里卡多、杰拉爾多、巴勃羅、凱利。關於你——我有 2 個問題。關於您最近宣布的碘和鋰投資計劃，能否請您提供更多顏色，說明從環境和監管的角度需要採取哪些步驟才能使其有效？

Also, if I heard correctly, you just mentioned that details on funding for this program will be delivered next month, but perhaps understand if this would be mostly debt or a combination of equity and debt.

另外，如果我沒聽錯的話，你剛才提到這個項目的資金細節將在下個月公佈，但也許你應該明白這主要是債務還是股權和債務的結合。

And my second and last question actually relates to Mt. Holland, where you note in the press release that a decision will be taken next January. I understand that you already have a definitive feasibility study. However, if you could please remind us what you want to achieve from this joint review. Is this essentially just enhancing the value of the asset? Or is this a combination of perhaps building a larger facility there? Any color would be appreciated.

我的第二個也是最後一個問題實際上與山有關。Holland，你在新聞稿中提到將於明年 1 月做出決定。我知道你們已經有了明確的可行性研究。但是，如果可以的話，請提醒我們您希望通過此次聯合審核實現什麼目標。這本質上只是提高了資產的價值嗎？或者這是可能在那裡建造更大設施的組合？任何顏色將不勝感激。

Cesar, the first question was -- let me (inaudible)?

Cesar，第一個問題是——讓我（聽不清）？

About CapEx, environmental permits...

關於資本支出、環境許可……

Okay. Environmental permits. We have been working very hard in the last, I think, 10 years in order to be ready for environmental needs. In every single project, we are expert about that so far. And as you know, in every single mining project, you need environmental permits and all different permits.

好的。環境許可證。在過去的 10 年裡，我們一直在非常努力地工作，以便為滿足環境需求做好準備。到目前為止，在每一個項目中，我們都是這方面的專家。如您所知，在每一個採礦項目中，您都需要環境許可證和所有不同的許可證。

In the -- in the case of lithium, we are prepared with the permit for the 180 -- I mean the 180,000 metric tons. It's already included the permit that we have today working at 120,000. That's why we don't expect any delay or any issue regarding moving to the 180,000 metric tons.

在 - 就鋰而言，我們準備了 180 的許可證 - 我的意思是 180,000 公噸。它已經包括我們今天在 120,000 工作時獲得的許可證。這就是為什麼我們預計在轉移到 180,000 公噸方面不會有任何延遲或任何問題。

In the other hand, in the nitrates and iodine business, we are working -- we have been working with the permits in the last 3 years. We are almost ready. We are working in the sea -- in the water, the seawater pipeline. That's a very important part of the project, and we have the permits now and working on it. In the engineering, we have some of the permits in the mining side, some of the permits of the construction. I do expect to have all the permits ready during first half, next year. It means we're working in advance in the terms of the permits and environmental problem. We don't foresee any big issue there. And it's going to be a plus in order that we think we can go with the $1.3 billion we have without delay because of environmental.

另一方面，在硝酸鹽和碘業務中，我們正在努力——過去 3 年我們一直在使用許可證。我們幾乎準備好了。我們在海中工作——在水中，在海水管道中。這是該項目的一個非常重要的部分，我們現在已經獲得許可並正在努力。在工程方面，我們在採礦方面有一些許可證，在施工方面有一些許可證。我確實希望在明年上半年準備好所有許可證。這意味著我們在許可證和環境問題方面提前開展工作。我們預計那裡不會出現任何大問題。這將是一個加號，因為我們認為我們可以毫不拖延地使用我們擁有的 13 億美元，因為環境問題。

The second question was, Gerardo...

第二個問題是，杰拉爾多……

About financing of the...

關於...的融資

Financing, as Gerardo informed you before, we expect to have the Board meetings in December. Our commitment is to present to the Board the different alternatives. And as you know, it's not a secret. You have many alternatives. And of course, an alternative you mentioned before are part of the alternatives that we will present to the Board. And you have my word that during the press release of December, we will be very clear -- or after the Board meeting, we are going to be very open about what is the decision of the Board about moving forward in that area.

融資，正如 Gerardo 之前告知您的那樣，我們預計將在 12 月召開董事會會議。我們承諾向董事會提出不同的備選方案。如您所知，這不是秘密。你有很多選擇。當然，您之前提到的備選方案是我們將提交給董事會的備選方案的一部分。我向您保證，在 12 月的新聞發布會上，我們將非常清楚——或者在董事會會議之後，我們將非常公開地說明董事會關於在該領域取得進展的決定。

But let me remind you what Gerardo said before, that we have a very conservative -- we are a very conservative company. Users have been followed SQM in the last, I don't know, 30 years, 25 years, whatever. You know us. We have a strong balance sheet today. We will continue to have a strong balance. And it means that we will -- you can imagine that we are going to be very strong and very conservative in our financial plan for the future. And finally...

但是讓我提醒你 Gerardo 之前說過的話，我們有一家非常保守的公司——我們是一家非常保守的公司。用戶最近一直關注 SQM，我不知道，30 年，25 年，無論如何。你了解我們。我們今天的資產負債表很強勁。我們將繼續保持強大的平衡。這意味著我們將 - 你可以想像我們將在未來的財務計劃中非常強大和非常保守。最後...

Mt. Holland.

公噸。荷蘭。

So Mt. Holland. Mt. Holland, I just mention one point. We are waiting for the final feasibility study from the engineering company. We expect to receive the final document in the next 30 days. We expect to have the meetings with our partners in the next 60 days in order to formally announce. Every announcement in the project is a joint announcement because we have a great partner. We are very proud of the partner we have in Australia. We're working together in this idea. We think, we strongly believe that we have a very good project in Australia. I expect to be announcing the project during January after the meeting we are going to have with farmers, with all the papers and document in front of us. And you will be informed.

所以山荷蘭。公噸。荷蘭，我只提一點。我們正在等待工程公司的最終可行性研究。我們希望在接下來的 30 天內收到最終文件。我們希望在接下來的 60 天內與我們的合作夥伴舉行會議，以便正式宣布。項目中的每一個公告都是聯合公告，因為我們有一個很棒的合作夥伴。我們為我們在澳大利亞的合作夥伴感到非常自豪。我們正在為這個想法共同努力。我們認為，我們堅信我們在澳大利亞有一個非常好的項目。我希望在我們將與農民舉行的會議之後，在 1 月份宣布該項目，所有的文件和文件都擺在我們面前。你會被告知。

Our next question comes from Ben Isaacson with Scotiabank.

我們的下一個問題來自豐業銀行的 Ben Isaacson。

I missed the first few minutes of the call, so just let me know if I'm asking something that was already asked.

我錯過了通話的前幾分鐘，所以如果我要問的問題已經有人問過，請告訴我。

So the first question is on the constitution that's coming next year at some point. Is there any discussion at the government level or just in the general public domain about the lithium industry as it relates to the new constitution in terms of opening up access to more players or rethinking the royalties? Is there any risk that SQM sees for -- in the lithium space, as it relates to the new constitution?

所以第一個問題是關於明年某個時候即將出台的憲法。在政府層面或公眾領域是否有任何關於鋰行業的討論，因為它與新憲法有關，涉及向更多參與者開放准入或重新考慮特許權使用費？SQM 在鋰領域是否存在與新憲法相關的風險？

To answer directly your question, I have -- I don't -- I'm not in a -- I'm not aware about any specific discussion about lithium in the new constitution. That's for the first point.

直接回答你的問題，我有——我沒有——我沒有——我不知道新憲法中有任何關於鋰的具體討論。這是第一點。

Second, just on a personal opinion, I'm very optimistic about the future of Chile today. After the last-month decision to move ahead to the new constitution, everything is back to normal. We're working very hard now. We have full work, full productivity, every single company.

其次，僅就個人觀點而言，我對今天智利的未來非常樂觀。在上個月決定推進新憲法之後，一切恢復正常。我們現在非常努力。我們有充分的工作，充分的生產力，每一家公司。

And my personal opinion, and it's a personal opinion, there's nothing wrong to review the constitution. It's something normal that happens from time to time in different countries. We have an institutional process moving forward in order to go ahead with this change or potential change to the constitution. And I strongly believe that the changes will be for the better.

還有我個人的看法，而且是個人的看法，修憲沒有錯。這在不同的國家時不時發生是很正常的事情。我們有一個向前推進的製度進程，以便繼續對憲法進行這種改變或潛在的改變。我堅信這些變化會變得更好。

Anyway, at the end, I think everyone agree that growing economy is probably the best way to solve all the needs that the people want. And it means that the main discussions about constitution, talking about education, talking about health care, talking about reasonable pension plan, in order to have this demand that it sounds reasonable to have, you need more money. And in order to have more money, you need a growing economy. I think everyone agree about that, and that's why I'm not in the negative side of the outlook about the discussion of the new constitution.

無論如何，最後，我認為每個人都同意，經濟增長可能是解決人們所有需求的最佳方式。這意味著主要討論憲法，談論教育，談論醫療保健，談論合理的養老金計劃，為了有這個聽起來合理的需求，你需要更多的錢。為了有更多的錢，你需要一個不斷增長的經濟。我想每個人都同意這一點，這就是為什麼我對新憲法的討論不持負面看法。

My second question is in terms of the cost of lithium, I understand when prices are lower, your royalty payments are lower. But in terms of the actual cost to produce a ton, is there work that you see where you could lower your cost over time? And if so, can you talk about timing and magnitude of that?

我的第二個問題是關於鋰的成本，我知道當價格較低時，您的特許權使用費也較低。但是就生產一噸的實際成本而言，您是否看到可以隨著時間的推移降低成本的工作？如果是這樣，你能談談時間和規模嗎？

Yes, of course, we have many initiatives in order to reduce costs, to improve productivity and improve the quality. And we're working. Some of them are very confidential and internal, but you have my -- of course, we're doing so.

是的，當然，我們有很多舉措，以降低成本、提高生產力和提高質量。我們正在工作。其中一些是非常機密和內部的，但你有我的 - 當然，我們正在這樣做。

The most important one that we announced yesterday, that we are going to be very effective in the first step of increasing capacity, if you consider the amount of investment in order to go from 120,000 to 160,000 metric tons, it's really, really low. It means that we are more than prepared to be extraordinarily competitive in the market. Because at the end, the investment is a cost and you have to pay for it. And that's why when we talk about cost in SQM, we talk about total costs. And our total cost, because the marginal investment is so low, have been reduced. That's a very good news and is a new competitive advantage of the company in the lithium space. This is an investment. We expect to continue to reduce investment and maintenance, but we have a lot of initiatives in order to reduce the cost in our process.

我們昨天宣布的最重要的一點是，我們將在增加產能的第一步中非常有效，如果你考慮從 120,000 公噸增加到 160,000 公噸的投資額，它真的非常低。這意味著我們已做好充分準備，在市場上具有非凡的競爭力。因為最終，投資是一種成本，你必須為此付出代價。這就是為什麼當我們在 SQM 中談論成本時，我們談論的是總成本。而且我們的總成本，因為邊際投資很低，已經降低了。這是一個非常好的消息，也是該公司在鋰領域的新競爭優勢。這是一項投資。我們希望繼續減少投資和維護，但我們有很多舉措來降低流程中的成本。

And if you review details, our cost of sales every quarter, you will have the number that our cost is going down. Be careful that the royalty on the payment, the rent payments or the [voice] included in the cost. That's why you need to be careful to put it aside because it is a cost, but it's more than a cost, it's a profit-sharing process we have with corporate, where we pay and it's public amount we pay a percentage of the price, depending the price of the lithium. But putting this aside, that is a payment of shared profits to CORFO with total cost of production, including depreciation, including cash cost is going down. And I suspect that it's going to have a big, big news in the future, so we are working very hard in order to do it.

如果你查看細節，我們每個季度的銷售成本，你就會知道我們的成本正在下降。請注意，版稅、租金支付或 [語音] 包含在成本中。這就是為什麼你需要小心地將它放在一邊，因為它是一種成本，但它不僅僅是一種成本，它是我們與公司的利潤分享過程，我們支付的是公共金額，我們支付價格的一定百分比，取決於鋰的價格。但撇開這一點不談，這是向 CORFO 支付的共享利潤，其中包括現金成本在內的總生產成本正在下降。而且我懷疑它在未來會有一個很大很大的新聞，所以我們正在非常努力地工作以做到這一點。

Are you willing to share some guidelines or kind of goalposts in terms of what you want to achieve? Like do you want to save $200 by 2023 per ton, excluding profit sharing? Or do you not want to give targets yet?

你願意就你想要實現的目標分享一些指導方針或目標嗎？比如你想在 2023 年之前每噸節省 200 美元，不包括利潤分享？或者您還不想給出目標？

Sorry, I don't want to share now. We are working with the R&D department, the lithium. Every week, we have a meeting in order to know where they're going, what is their next step. I hope we're going to have the final steps in the different projects; we're working on it now. And as soon as we have a clear understanding of potential projects and their effect, of course, we are going to be public about that.

對不起，我現在不想分享。我們正在與鋰研發部門合作。每個星期，我們都會開會來了解他們的去向，他們的下一步是什麼。我希望我們將在不同的項目中完成最後的步驟；我們現在正在努力。一旦我們對潛在項目及其影響有了清晰的了解，當然，我們就會公開這一點。

Okay. And my last question is if you go back a quarter ago, I think you realized about $6,800 per ton, and now you've realized about $5,400 per ton. And of course, that was the average for the quarter. So when you think about where you ended September, I'm guessing it must have been a little bit lower. So in order to have the same average price in Q4, do you see prices rising a little bit?

好的。我的最後一個問題是，如果你回到一個季度前，我想你意識到每噸大約 6,800 美元，現在你已經意識到每噸大約 5,400 美元。當然，這是本季度的平均值。因此，當您考慮 9 月結束時，我猜它一定是低了一點。所以為了在第四季度有相同的平均價格，你看到價格上漲一點點嗎？

Ben, Pablo Altimiras speaking. As you know, price is a result of the supply and demand. And as I comment before, our perspective on demand is positive. However, regarding to supply, despite of some production decrease of some players, we have seen some investments in the market that could potentially continue to put some pressure on price recoveries.

本，巴勃羅阿爾蒂米拉斯說話。如您所知，價格是供求關係的結果。正如我之前評論的那樣，我們對需求的看法是積極的。然而，在供應方面，儘管一些參與者的產量有所下降，但我們看到市場上的一些投資可能會繼續對價格回升造成一定壓力。

However, having said that, we have been seeing in China, which is a important market, they're recovering the price level, which could mean that we have already slowed. Therefore, for next year, with the demand recovery and the use of the inventories, we should see better prices during the next year and the near future.

然而，話雖如此，我們在中國這個重要市場看到他們正在恢復價格水平，這可能意味著我們已經放緩了。因此，對於明年，隨著需求的恢復和庫存的使用，我們應該會在明年和不久的將來看到更好的價格。

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Kelly O'Brien, Head of Investor Relations, for any closing remarks.

我們的問答環節到此結束。我想將會議轉回給投資者關係主管 Kelly O'Brien，聽取任何閉幕詞。

Great. Thank you for joining today. We'll see you at our next quarter call.

偉大的。感謝您今天加入。我們下個季度電話會議見。

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

會議現已結束。感謝您參加今天的演講。您現在可以斷開連接。