The imbalance between market supply and demand has caused my country’s sulfur prices to continue to rise

Sulfur is an important chemical raw material. The appearance of lump sulfur is light yellow lump crystal. Sulfur is insoluble in water, slightly soluble in ethanol and ether, and easily soluble in carbon disulfide. As a flammable solid, sulfur can be used in match powder production, sulfur-containing chemicals manufacturing, etc. In addition, sulfur is also widely used in food, pesticides, medicine, rubber, paper and other fields. Sulfur has a wide range of application fields. my country is a large industrial country with a large scale of sulfur consumption. However, due to the lack of domestic natural sulfur mineral resources and low sulfur output, my country’s sulfur industry is highly dependent on foreign countries.

In the global market, sulfur production capacity is mainly concentrated in the Middle East, North and South America, etc. As a bulk inorganic chemical, my country’s sulfur has long been highly dependent on foreign countries. Although in recent years, with the improvement of production technology and the growth of domestic production capacity, my country’s sulfur External dependence has declined, but remains above 50%. Imported sulfur mainly comes from the United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and other regions.

According to different uses, sulfur can be divided into food-grade sulfur and industrial-grade sulfur. In downstream demand applications, sulfuric acid manufacturing is the largest consumer market for sulfur. In recent years, with the deepening of supply-side structural reform and increasingly strict environmental protection supervision, the operating pressure of backward sulfur enterprises has increased and they have gradually withdrawn from the market, and the concentration of the sulfur market has increased.

According to the “2022-2026 China Sulfur Industry In-depth Research and Market Investment Risk Consulting Report released by the Industrial Research Center, at this stage , there are more than ten listed companies with sulfur-related businesses in my country, including Jinrui Mining, Puguang Gas Field, Sanwei Chemical, Hongxing Development, Yanggu Huatai, Zhongjin Lingnan, etc. In recent years, thanks to technological progress, the purity of domestic sulfur has been continuously improved, and the purity of sulfur products from the Puguang Gas Field has reached 99.98%.

In 2021, due to insufficient market supply and a decline in international trade activities, the sulfur industry is booming and sulfur prices continue to rise. From January to December 2021, sulfur prices doubled. Entering 2022, on the one hand, due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, there is a shortage of international sulfur supply, and my country’s sulfur imports are declining. On the other hand, the domestic demand for fertilizers for spring plowing is released, and the demand for sulfur is growing rapidly. Due to the mismatch between supply and demand, the sulfur market Prices are rising again. Specifically, as of the end of March 2021, the mainstream domestic sulfur transaction price has risen to 3,300 yuan/ton, and prices in some areas have risen to more than 3,500 yuan/ton, setting a record high in the past ten years.

Domestically, sulfur production capacity is mainly concentrated in East China, Central China, North China and other regions. Industry analysts said that my country’s sulfur ore resources are poor and domestic production is not enough to meet the huge market demand. Therefore, my country’s sulfur is highly dependent on foreign countries. Gao. In the past two years, due to the severe international situation and the increased uncertainty in imported sulfur, the domestic sulfur supply and demand imbalance has led to an increase in sulfur market prices. In the short term, sulfur prices are still on an upward trend.