India
India CFR prices remain unchanged at $1,040–1,060/t; crushed lump CFR is also steady at $900–950/t. A 55,000-tonne Canadian cargo was reported to have traded at around $1,000/t CFR, but the deal has not been verified. Mainstream cargo offers are at $1,050/t CFR, while buyers on India’s west coast are still bidding below $1,000/t CFR. A domestic 53,000-tonne granular sulphur cargo for September shipment, sourced from India’s west coast and sold to six Indian buyers, traded at $920–930/t CFR.
India’s latest subsidy policy covers both imported and domestic sulphur and sulphuric acid; eligibility is conditional: sulphuric acid must be used to produce phosphoric acid and further processed into phosphate fertilizer. If a company produces phosphoric acid but does not process phosphate fertilizer, it cannot claim the subsidy.
Indonesia
Indonesia CFR prices remain unchanged at $1,050–1,070/t CFR. A 50,000-tonne Middle Eastern cargo was sold to a nickel producer for September delivery at $1,060/t CFR. Another small cargo was reportedly sold at $1,100/t CFR, arriving in early October; due to its small size and extremely high freight, the deal is not a repeatable reference. There was also talk that a cargo purchased by a metal smelting company traded at $950/t CFR, but this is unconfirmed; the market widely views it as a buyer’s bid rather than an actual transaction. Offers for Middle Eastern cargoes remain at $1,030–1,060/t CFR.
Tsingshan Group (a battery metals producer) has cut the operating rate at its Blue Spark high-pressure acid leach (HPAL) project in Weda Bay to about 50%. El Niño-induced drought has reduced water supply at the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP), constraining plant operations. The park hosts numerous battery metals companies, including Huayou Cobalt’s Huayue project, QMB, GEM-related projects, and the ENC nickel-cobalt project.
Middle East
Middle East FOB prices held stable, assessed on a netback basis from the 50,000-tonne Indonesian spot deal.
The M/V DemaM (32,259 dwt) transited the Strait of Hormuz around Sept 6; it loaded at Kuwait’s Shuaiba port on Aug 28, is bound for Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and is expected to arrive on Sept 15.
The M/V Al Danah, 55,000 dwt, transited the Strait after loading in Qatar and Kuwait this week, and is most likely heading to India.
A third vessel loaded at Ruwais port over the past two days, destined for Aqaba, Jordan.
Refinery operating rates have fallen, fewer empty vessels are arriving, and loading volumes are constrained. Jubail port is believed to have had no sulphur loadings in August; Qatar’s loadings halved; UAE and Kuwait loadings were relatively stable. The market has not seen a large number of vessels waiting to lift sulphur; cargoes continue to be shipped in small lots, and producers are generally running below normal rates.
Iran
No fresh deals; Iran FOB prices unchanged. The M/V Temeh, 75,000 dwt, has loaded at Assaluyeh and Bandar Abbas, but it cannot be confirmed how the vessel passed the U.S. maritime blockade.
Red Sea
Another attack on energy facilities in southern Saudi Arabia may continue to disrupt Saudi oil exports and delay the recovery of sulphur shipments from Jizan port. The Jizan refinery has sulphur capacity of about 259,000 t/y; facilities at the port were attacked on Sept 8. The port’s August sulphur loadings fell to zero (from 615,000 tonnes in July), after earlier drone attacks. Jizan is located on Saudi Arabia’s southern Red Sea coast; cargoes can move north via the Suez Canal or south through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to Asia.
Yemen’s Houthi armed group issued a maritime ban in July, causing Saudi refined product shipments through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to essentially stall in August. Kpler data show Saudi Red Sea + Persian Gulf refined product exports fell to 2.07 million tonnes in August from 4.05 million tonnes in July, nearly halving. In September, Houthi-affiliated groups again warned shipowners, threatening action against vessels calling at Saudi ports. Chartering records show reduced bookings on Red Sea routes, with disruption continuing into September.
North Africa
North Africa lump and granular CFR remain at $980–1,100/t; pure granular CFR at $1,000–1,100/t; no fresh deals by press time. North African buyers continue to seek cargoes below $1,000/t CFR; high prices are curbing demand, and companies stop purchasing after securing prompt cargoes.
Morocco
Morocco’s OCP Group prioritizes purchasing sulphur over sulphuric acid. With Q4 contract negotiations approaching, uncertainty surrounds Kazakh and Middle Eastern supply, but its short-term procurement strategy will not change. However, the phosphate producer said its P2O5 capacity operating rate has risen to 60–70% from below 50% previously.
Tunisia
Buyers are well supplied. The M/V TravellingSage loaded at Beaumont, U.S., 55,675 dwt, and arrived at Sfax port on Sept 9.
Libya
Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) completed its latest sulphur tender on the evening of Sept 9: two cargoes of 8,000 tonnes each of granular sulphur at about $1,000/t FOB. The first laycan is Sept 16–18; the second is Sept 27–29. In the previous tender in August, one 8,000-tonne cargo traded at $1,090–1,100/t FOB, awarded to Egypt.
Egypt
No fresh deals this week. With high feedstock prices, Egyptian buyers stick to hand-to-mouth buying and purchase in small volumes.
Russia and Central Asia
Baltic
Baltic FOB $850–900/t, no fresh deals, prices unchanged. After Kazakhstan’s export ban and the Russian Railways ban were lifted, a second Kazakh sulphur cargo was shipped from Ust-Luga, with contractual material destined for Morocco. The M/V Hermes, 59,000 dwt, departed on Aug 31 and is expected to arrive at Jorf Lasfar port on Sept 15.
Kazakhstan’s TCO project is expected to produce 200,000 tonnes of sulphur in September, at least half of which may be available for export to markets outside Russia. Some Russian off-spec sulphur may be exported, but no offers have been made to the market and the information is unconfirmed.
Black Sea
Black Sea FOB remains $850–900/t, with quiet trading. There is no prompt stock at Poti port; inland transportation is time-consuming, and traders consider advance booking too risky at current price levels. Buyers bid $700/t FOB Black Sea, but no deal was concluded.
Canada (Vancouver)
Vancouver FOB spot $950–1,050/t, no confirmed deals. Fertilizer sector demand is being curbed by high prices, and market sentiment has weakened despite renewed tensions in the Middle East.
Firefighting continues near Boston Bar, British Columbia, a key railway pass; the Ainslee Creek and Brunswick Creek fires have burned nearly 77,000 hectares combined. Logistics providers, railways and local authorities are coordinating to safeguard sulphur transportation, and there has been no interruption since late July.
Pacific Coast Terminals at Port Moody began maintenance this week, running through Sept 22; vessel loading and rail arrivals will be suspended during the maintenance. All cargo has been diverted to the Vancouver Wharves terminal, and no vessel delays are expected; rail transportation is unaffected.
Latin America – Brazil
Brazil CFR low end adjusted down to $1,000–1,160/t CFR (from $1,050–1,160 last week); trading is thin, and offers above $1,000 are rejected by buyers. A Vancouver-origin cargo for September shipment to Santos port was rumored to have been sold to a fertilizer plant at below $1,000/t CFR, but the deal is unverified.
Many companies, including mining company CMOC, would rather cut output than buy feedstock at market prices. Brazilian President Lula signed the Profert Fertilizer Industry Development Bill on Sept 3, published in the official gazette on Sept 4, aimed at supporting the domestic fertilizer industry and reducing import dependence. The bill was approved by the Senate on Aug 11; it authorizes the federal government to provide repayable credit to support projects, raw material bases and logistics hubs, mandates domestic fertilizer blending ratios, with funding to be implemented by the Ministry of Finance and Brazil’s development bank BNDES.
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