The operational pressure on the sulfur industry chain has seen a sharp increase

"Affected by multiple factors such as geopolitical conflicts in the Middle East, global supply structure adjustments, and rapid growth in demand for new energy, domestic sulfur and sulfuric acid prices have both hit record highs, and the operational pressure on the sulfur industry chain has soared. Upstream and downstream enterprises urgently need to strengthen collaboration and jointly cope with this difficult situation." This is the information the reporter learned at the sulfur industry chain market exchange meeting for the first half of 2026 held in Tongling, Anhui on April 16.

According to data from the Business Society, in terms of sulfur, on April 6, the domestic benchmark price of sulfur hit a record high of 6,700 yuan (per ton, the same below). On April 16, although the benchmark price of sulfur in China had fallen back to 6,483.33 yuan, it was still up over 160% compared to the same period last year. In terms of sulfuric acid, on April 16, the benchmark price of sulfuric acid was 2,100 yuan, up about 67% compared to the same period last year, and nearly 130% compared to the beginning of the year.

"The core driving force behind the price increase stems from the tightening supply of sulfur and the structural expansion of demand," said Li Chong, Secretary-General of the China Sulfuric Acid Industry Association. From the supply side, the global "dual carbon" strategy has led to fossil energy consumption nearing its peak, and the increase in sulfur produced as a by-product of oil refining is limited. In 2025, China's imports of sulfur decreased slightly by 3.5% year-on-year, and although domestic sulfur production increased by 7.2%, it still failed to make up for the gap, resulting in port inventories falling from a high of 2.68 million tons to the current level of around 1.5 million tons.

Zhao Lei, a senior analyst at S&P Global, analyzed the reasons for the tight supply of sulfur in the spot market. The core shortage stems from lower-than-expected exports from the Middle East and disruptions to Eurasian supply, while Canadian exports have reached full capacity, and future expansion of sulfuric acid production in Kazakhstan will further reduce sulfur exports. Freda Gordon, a senior analyst at Acuity Commodities Ltd., pointed out that disruptions in the passage of the Strait of Hormuz have cut off approximately 56% of the global seaborne sulfur supply from the Middle East and disrupted imports of sulfuric acid. Coupled with a significant surge in bunker fuel and freight costs, a large number of shipments have been forced to be rerouted, delayed, or even canceled, further exacerbating the sulfur market shortage.

The structural expansion on the demand side cannot be overlooked. Zhao Lei mentioned that nearly 70% of global sulfur is used in fertilizer production, with the rest going to the industrial sector. Among these, sulfur used in non-ferrous metal hydrometallurgy accounts for the largest share and its demand continues to grow. The rapid development of new energy and new materials has also become a key driver of sulfur demand, with industries such as hydrometallurgical nickel, lithium iron phosphate, lithium carbonate, and purified phosphoric acid significantly driving sulfur demand. The ongoing advancement of hydrometallurgical projects in Indonesia has become an important growth point for demand in the global sulfur market.

Liao Kangcheng, Deputy Secretary-General of the China Sulphuric Acid Association, stated that the current copper smelting processing fee has fallen to a historic low, leading upstream smelting enterprises to face unprecedented operational pressures. Meanwhile, the price of sulfur resources has surpassed historical highs, pushing downstream phosphate fertilizer enterprises into a loss situation. Faced with this challenging situation, both upstream and downstream segments of the sulfur industry chain need to strengthen communication and closely cooperate. Through multiple measures such as supply and demand regulation, enterprise supply guarantee, and technological substitution, they should strive to stabilize the supply of sulfur resources. "In the future, technologies that can regenerate sulfur resources, such as producing sulfuric acid from gypsum and recovering sulfur dioxide from tail gas to produce sulfuric acid, as well as phosphorus chemical technologies that bypass sulfur resources, such as thermal phosphoric acid and nitrophosphate, all have promising promotion prospects and markets," said Liao Kangcheng.