Identification and Activities of the Company and Subsidiaries (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Disclosure of Identification and Activities of the Company and Subsidiaries [Abstract]

Summary of Progressive Rates Based on the Final Sale Price

Regarding lithium carbonate, the former rate of 6.8% on FOB sales was changed to the following structure of progressive rates based on the final sale price:

Price US$/MT Li2CO3	Lease payment rate
$0 - $4,000		6.80	%
$4,000 - $5,000		8.00	%
$5,000 - $6,000		10.00	%
$6,000 - $7,000		17.00	%
$7,000 - $10,000		25.00	%
> $10,000		40.00	%

Regarding potassium chloride, the former rate of 1.8% on FOB sales was changed to the following structure of progressive rates based on the final sale price:

Price US$/MT Li2CO3	Lease payment rate
$0 - $300		3.0	%
$300 - $400		7.0	%
$400 - $500		10.0	%
$500 - $600		15.0	%
> $600		20.0	%

Disclosure of information about employees [text block]

As of December 31, 2019, and December 31, 2018, the workforce was as follows:

	As of December 31, 2019						As of December 31, 2018
Employees	S.Q.M S.A.		Other ‎ subsidiaries		Total		S.Q.M S.A.		Other ‎ subsidiaries		Total
Executives		30		91		121		33		89		122
Professionals		110		1,170		1,280		115		1,078		1,193
Technicians and operators		282		3,481		3,763		260		3,287		3,547
Foreign employees		17		560		577		11		417		428
Overall total		439		5,302		5,741		419		4,871		5,290

Schedule of Shareholders stock and Ownership Percentage [Text Block]

The following information is derived from our registry and reports managed by the DCV and informed to the CMF and the Chilean Stock Exchanges.

whose main shareholders are the following:

Shareholders as of December 31, 2019	No. of Series A		% of Serie A ‎ shares			No. of Series B		% of Serie B ‎ shares			% of total ‎ shares
Inversiones TLC SpA (1)		62,556,568		43.80	%		-		-			23.77	%
Sociedad de Inversiones Pampa Calichera S.A.		44,894,152		31.43	%		3,793,154		3.15	%		18.50	%
The Bank of New York Mellon, ADRs		-		-			38,311,788		31.83	%		14.56	%
Potasios de Chile S.A.		18,179,147		12.73	%		-		-			6.91	%
Inversiones Global Mining (Chile) Limitada		8,798,539		6.16	%		-		-			3.34	%
Banco Itau via foreign investor accounts		-		-			7,373,216		6.13	%		2.80	%
Banco de Chile non-resident third party accounts		109		-			6,842,746		5.68	%		2.60	%
Banco Santander via foreign investor accounts		-		-			6,618,416		5.50	%		2.51	%
Euroamerica C de B S.A.		3,056		-			4,863,467		4.04	%		1.85	%
Banchile C de B S.A.		491,729		0.34	%		4,285,696		3.56	%		1.82	%
Inversiones la Esperanza de Chile Limitada		4,147,263		2.90	%		46,500		0.04	%		1.59	%
Santiago stock exchanges		30,590		0.02	%		3,077,930		2.56	%		1.18	%

(1) As reported by DCV, which records the Company's shareholders' register as of December 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018, Inversiones TLC SpA, a subsidiary of Tianqi Lithium Corporation ("Tianqi"), is the direct owner of 62,556,568 shares of SQM equivalent to 23.77% of SQM’s shares'' According to information provided to the CMF by Inversiones TLC SpA dated December 5, 2018, Inversiones TLC SpA owns 25.86% of SQM’s shares

Shareholders as of December 31, 2018	No. of Series A		% of Serie A ‎ shares			No. of Series B		% of Serie B ‎ shares			% of total ‎ shares
Inversiones TLC SpA (1)		62,556,568		43.80	%		-		-			23.77	%
Sociedad de Inversiones Pampa Calichera S.A.		44,894,152		31.43	%		10,093,154		8.38	%		20.89	%
The Bank of New York Mellon, ADRs		-		-			35,254,267		29.29	%		13.39	%
Potasios de Chile S.A.		18,179,147		12.73	%		-		-			6.91	%
Banco de Chile via non-resident third party accounts		15,687		0.01	%		10,703,812		8.89	%		4.07	%
Inversiones Global Mining (Chile) Limitada		8,798,539		6.16	%		-		-			3.34	%
Banco Itau via foreign investor accounts		-		-			8,085,730		6.72	%		3.07	%
Banco Santander via foreign investor accounts		-		-			7,138,685		5.93	%		2.71	%
Banchile C de B S. A.		528,092		0.37	%		4,028,611		3.35	%		1.73	%
Inversiones la Esperanza de Chile Limitada		3,711,598		2.60	%		46,500		0.04	%		1.43	%