China Chemical News Net – "Under the influence of multiple factors, including the Middle East geopolitical conflict, global supply structure adjustments, and rapid growth in new energy demand, domestic sulfur and sulfuric acid prices have both hit record highs. The sulfur industry chain is facing sharply mounting operational pressure, and upstream and downstream enterprises urgently need to strengthen coordination to jointly address this difficult situation." This is what a reporter learned at the First Half of 2026 Sulfur Industry Chain Market Exchange Conference held on April 16 in Tongling, Anhui Province.
Data from Business Society shows that for sulfur, the domestic benchmark price hit 6.700 yuan/ton on April 6. a record high. By April 16. the benchmark sulfur price had fallen back to 6.483.33 yuan/ton, but was still up more than 160% year-on-year. For sulfuric acid, the benchmark price was 2.100 yuan/ton on April 16. up about 67% year-on-year and nearly 130% from the beginning of the year.
"The core drivers of the price increases are tightening sulfur supply and structural expansion on the demand side," said Li Chong, Secretary General of the China Sulfuric Acid Industry Association. On the supply side, the global "dual carbon" strategy has brought fossil energy consumption close to its peak, limiting the growth of sulfur produced as a refining by-product. In 2025. China's sulfur imports fell slightly by 3.5% year-on-year. Although domestic sulfur production increased by 7.2%, it was still unable to fill the gap, causing port inventories to drop from a high of 2.68 million tons to around 1.5 million tons currently.
Zhao Lei, a senior analyst at S&P Global, analyzed the reasons for the tight spot supply of sulfur. The core shortfall stems from lower-than-expected exports from the Middle East, disrupted supply from Eurasia, and Canadian exports already running at full capacity. Future sulfuric acid capacity expansion in Kazakhstan will further reduce its sulfur exports. Freda Gordon, a senior analyst at Acuity Commodities Ltd, pointed out that the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has cut off about 56% of global seaborne sulfur supply from the Middle East, while also interrupting sulfuric acid imports. Coupled with a sharp rise in bunker fuel and freight costs, a large volume of cargo has been forced to reroute, delayed, or even canceled, further amplifying the sulfur market gap.
Structural expansion on the demand side is equally noteworthy. Zhao Lei noted that nearly 70% of global sulfur is used for fertilizer production, with the remainder going to industrial applications. Among these, sulfur use in non-ferrous metal hydrometallurgy accounts for the largest share, and demand continues to grow. The rapid development of new energy and new materials has also become a key driver of sulfur demand. Industries such as nickel laterite processing, lithium iron phosphate, lithium carbonate, and purified phosphoric acid have significantly boosted sulfur demand. Indonesia's ongoing nickel laterite processing projects have become an important source of sulfur demand growth in the global market.
Liao Kangcheng, Deputy Secretary General of the Sulfuric Acid Association, said that copper smelting processing fees have fallen to historical lows, placing unprecedented operational pressure on upstream smelting enterprises. Meanwhile, sulfur resource prices hitting record highs have pushed downstream phosphate fertilizer companies into loss-making territory. Facing this difficult situation, the upstream and downstream of the sulfur industry chain need to strengthen communication and close cooperation to stabilize sulfur resource supply through multiple measures such as supply-demand regulation, guaranteed supply from enterprises, and technological substitution. "In the future, technologies that can regenerate sulfur resources – such as producing sulfuric acid from gypsum or recovering sulfur dioxide from tail gas – as well as phosphorous chemical technologies that bypass sulfur resources, such as thermal phosphoric acid and nitric phosphate fertilizers, have good promotion prospects and market potential," Liao Kangcheng said.
