China Chemical News: “Influenced by multiple factors including geopolitical conflicts in the Middle East, global supply structure adjustments and the rapid growth in demand for new energy, domestic prices for both sulphur and sulphuric acid have hit new record highs. Operational pressures across the sulphur industry chain have surged, and upstream and downstream enterprises urgently need to strengthen coordination to jointly address this challenging situation.” This information was obtained by a reporter at the 2026 First-Half Sulphur Industry Chain Market Exchange Meeting held in Tongling, Anhui on 16 April.
Data from SunSirs shows that, regarding sulphur, on 6 April, the domestic benchmark price reached RMB 6,700 (per tonne, same below), setting a new record high; On 16 April, although the domestic benchmark price for sulphur had fallen back to RMB 6,483.33, it remained more than 160% higher than the same period last year. As for sulphuric acid, on 16 April, the benchmark price stood at RMB 2,100, up approximately 67% year-on-year and nearly 130% since the start of the year.
“The core drivers of the price increases stem from tightening sulphur supply and structural expansion on the demand side. ” Li Chong, Secretary-General of the China Sulphuric Acid Industry Association, explained that from the supply side, global ‘dual carbon’ strategies have led to fossil fuel consumption nearing its peak, limiting the growth in by-product sulphur from refining. In 2025, China’s sulphur imports are expected to fall slightly by 3.5% year-on-year; although domestic sulphur production has increased by 7.2%, this remains insufficient to bridge the gap, resulting in port inventories falling from a high of 2.68 million tonnes to the current level of around 1.5 million tonnes.
Zhao Lei, a senior analyst at S&P Global, analysed the reasons behind the tight spot supply of sulphur. The core shortfall stems from lower-than-expected exports from the Middle East and disruptions to Eurasian supplies, whilst Canadian exports have reached full capacity, and future sulphuric acid capacity expansions in Kazakhstan are set to further reduce sulphur exports. Freda Gordon, Senior Analyst at Acuity Commodities Ltd, pointed out that the disruption to traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has cut off approximately 56% of the Middle East’s seaborne sulphur supply to the global market, whilst simultaneously halting sulphuric acid imports. Coupled with sharp rises in bunker fuel and freight rates, a large volume of cargo has been forced to reroute, face delays or even be cancelled, further exacerbating the shortfall in the sulphur market.
Structural expansion on the demand side is equally significant. Zhao Lei mentioned that nearly 70% of global sulphur is used in fertiliser production, with the remainder flowing into industrial sectors; among these, sulphur for the hydrometallurgical processing of non-ferrous metals accounts for the largest share and continues to see growing demand. The rapid development of the new energy and new materials sectors has also become a key driver of sulphur demand, with industries such as hydrometallurgical nickel, lithium iron phosphate, lithium carbonate and purified phosphoric acid significantly boosting demand for sulphur. The ongoing advancement of hydrometallurgical projects in Indonesia has emerged as a significant growth driver for the global sulphur market.
Liao Kangcheng, Deputy Secretary-General of the Sulphuric Acid Association, stated that copper smelting processing fees have now fallen to historic lows, placing upstream smelting enterprises under unprecedented operational pressure; meanwhile, sulphur resource prices have surged to record highs, plunging downstream phosphate fertiliser enterprises into a loss-making predicament. In the face of this challenging situation, upstream and downstream players in the sulphur industry chain must strengthen communication and cooperate closely. Through multiple measures such as supply and demand regulation, corporate supply guarantees and technological substitution, they must strive to stabilise the supply of sulphur resources. “In the future, technologies capable of regenerating sulphur resources—such as sulphuric acid production from gypsum and sulphuric acid production via the recovery of sulphur dioxide from flue gas—as well as phosphate chemical technologies that bypass the need for sulphur resources, such as thermally produced phosphoric acid and nitric acid-based phosphate fertilisers, all hold promising prospects for promotion and market growth,” said Liao Kangcheng.
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