SQM says to overtake Albemarle as world's top lithium producer by 2022

Chilean miner SQM said on Wednesday it would overtake competitor Albemarle as the world's top producer of lithium by 2022, boosting its production capacity that year to 28% of the world's total versus the US-based Albemarle's 16%. SQM Vice President Daniel Jimenez said in a presentation at a Santiago forum on lithium that capacity increases at its Chile operations, together with new projects in Australia and Argentina, would help put the company in the top slot.