SunSirs:Imported Sulfur Prices Surge Over 230% This Year, Driving Up Fertilizer Production Costs

On December 18, the China Sulfuric Acid Industry Association and the China Phosphate Fertilizer Industry Association convened a special meeting focused on ensuring stable supply and prices in the sulfuric acid and phosphate fertilizer sectors. Multiple regulatory measures were outlined to guarantee stable fertilizer supply and price stability before the spring planting season, thereby strengthening the agricultural supply foundation for national food security.

This year, tight global sulfur supply has triggered sharp price hikes, with imported sulfur prices surging over 230% year-to-date and briefly exceeding 4,100 yuan per ton. Data shows that as of December 11, domestic sulfur prices reached their annual peak, with solid sulfur's mainstream transaction price averaging 3,936.88 yuan per ton—a 169.59% year-on-year increase. while the mainstream transaction price for liquid sulfur stood at 3,992.75 yuan per ton, a year-on-year increase of 161.61%. The sharp rise in sulfur prices has directly led to a surge in domestic fertilizer production costs, disrupting the stable operation of the fertilizer market and placing immense pressure on winter fertilizer stockpiling and spring plowing supply guarantees. Ensuring stable supply and prices has become an urgent priority for the industry.

In response to the current situation: Regarding export controls, sulfuric acid exporters must prioritize meeting domestic demand, proactively reduce export volumes, and ensure that prices for products requiring export do not fall below domestic sales prices during the same period. Regarding price controls, using December 11th prices as the benchmark, producers of smelting acid must demonstrate proactive responsibility, refrain from unauthorized price increases, and ensure stable market operations. Regarding pricing mechanisms, sulfur enterprises should anchor their operations in the domestic market, establish independent and controllable pricing systems, avoid significant price fluctuations tied to international markets, and safeguard the stable operation of the domestic market.

The sulfuric acid and phosphate compound fertilizer industries must fully recognize the importance of food security and fertilizer supply assurance, strengthen their sense of responsibility, and advance supply assurance and price stabilization as key tasks. Concurrently, the China Sulfuric Acid Industry Association and the China Phosphate Fertilizer Industry Association must earnestly fulfill their industry self-regulation duties, enhance industry supervision and monitoring, and fully implement detailed supply assurance and price stabilization measures. They should call on smelting acid enterprises and phosphate fertilizer producers to establish stable upstream-downstream purchasing relationships through means such as signing long-term purchase and sales agreements.

Furthermore, to fundamentally alleviate sulfur resource supply pressures, the meeting also mentioned promoting phosphogypsum acid production technology and policy support, coordinating with relevant departments to study supporting measures. Public data indicates China generates approximately 90 million tons of phosphogypsum annually, with each ton yielding 0.45 tons of sulfuric acid. If this technology achieves large-scale application, it will effectively supplement domestic sulfur resource supply.

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