SQM has grown substantially since its beginnings as a nitrate company that primarily produced and sold fertilizers. For over 40 years, SQM has expanded by broadening its business and product offering, always visionary in its growth from its inception in 1968.

One of SQM's main goals has always been to generate value for its shareholders using a multidisciplinary strategy: to focus the company's growth on areas where it has sustainable competitive advantages; to maintain a conservative and sound financial position; to optimize production processes in order to maximize efficiency and be a low-cost producer; and to strive to develop new products, markets and applications.

SQM is committed to maintaining and strengthening its global leadership in its key markets. Today, SQM is an integrated producer of specialty fertilizers and chemicals that enjoys important competitive advantages, that have afforded it significant growth over the past few years.

Currently, SQM has a global presence in a variety of industries through its 5 business lines: Specialty Plant Nutrition; Iodine and Derivatives; Lithium and Derivatives; Industrial Chemicals and Potassium. Presently, SQM is the world's largest producer in the niche markets of specialty plant nutrition, iodine and derivatives and lithium and derivatives.

SQM's strong competitive position in each of its businesses is based on the following fundamentals:

• Vast natural resources, whose location, ease of extraction and chemical composition make them unique in the world.
• Significant economies of scale in its different business areas, affording major cost advantages over its competitors.
• Important synergies between our raw materials: caliche ore and brines.
• Flexible production processes that complement each other.
• A global presence through an extensive distribution and sales network.
• Participation in markets with high growth potential.