China's sulphur prices dropped over the weekend but bounced back on 11 March as buying activity from end-users increased.
Although some phosphate producers intend to decrease their operating rates and slow down their purchasing of raw materials due to sulphur’s poor affordability, there is still a demand gap that needs to be fulfilled as the spring application approaches, according to market participants. As a result, downstream buyers continue to purchase while port suppliers are selling limited products in order to push prices higher.
In terms of fresh imports, an international trader sold Canadian material at $270/t CFR late last week, according to multiple market sources. A transaction is rumoured to have occurred at the $275/t CFR level, but this could not be confirmed at the time of writing.
Originally reported last week, a cargo of Canadian material was bought by traders at $240/t CFR Yangtze River two weeks ago. As such, the import price rose by $30/t in two weeks.
The sulphur port spot transaction price is reported at around RMB2,340-2,350/t FCA ($323-325/t)
This is an increase of RMB10/t ($1/t) compared to last week. The current port price indicates a delivery price at around $278/t CFR, which is $8/t higher than the import price in Yangtze River.
Total sulphur port inventories in China increased by 27,000 t to 1.872 Mt by 12 March 2025.
The volume at Yangtze River ports increased rose by 7,000 t to 638,000 t while the Dafeng port inventory increased by 23,000 t to 423,000 t.
Sinopec’s Puguang, the largest sulphur producer in China, increased its sulphur prices at port and Dazhou factory prices this week. The daily production is around 5,500 t. The seller's price at Wanzhou port is currently reported at RMB2,320/t FCA ($320/t), which is RMB180/t ($25/t) higher than last week.
Factory prices at Dazhou are reported at RMB2,200/t EXW ($304/t) for truck volumes and at RMB2,230/t EXW ($308/t) for rail volumes. Both prices increased by RMB180/t ($25/t) compared to last week.
