USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2023 tables show average US elemental sulfur unit value rising to about $92.30 per tonne in 2021 from $24.60 per tonne in 2020, still below the 2022 spike near $150 per tonne. The 2021 recovery mirrored Tampa contract firming as refineries and phosphate plants normalized after 2020 disruption. The PDF is at https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2023/mcs2023-sulfur.pdf.
$24.60 to $92.30 is a threefold annual-average increase, the USGS rhyme of BC Insight's Tampa about $54 a year earlier to $192 in mid-June. TFI's 198 percent March 2021 to March 2022 is the twelve-month contract version that extends into the 2022 spike. February 2021 is the unit-value recovery already in motion, not yet $150, not yet $481 Tampa.
Alberta recovered sulfur still leaves mainly through Vancouver. A $92.30 US unit-value year is a better molten-rail netback than $24.60. USGS about 73 percent Canadian share of US elemental imports for 2017-20, MCS 2022, is that rail book. Vancouver's 2.29 million tonne down year shows the Pacific solid door still lagged the molten-price recovery in calendar tonnes. Two doors, one unit-value.
US production about 8.1 million tonnes in 2021, MCS 2022, world about 80 million, Canada about 4.9 million, is the volume backdrop. Price recovered faster than Vancouver tonnes. USGS said high 2021 prices reflected supply issues rather than a permanent demand boom. Pandemic refining cuts, China 2020 import plunge, and late-winter storms are those supply issues.
2022's $150 unit-value and $1.3 billion shipments are the spike year. 2023's $100 and 2024's $46.42 are the hangover. 2025e's about $180 is the next spike. 2021's $92.30 is the recovery step between $24.60 and $150. Licensed weekly grids are not restated. These unit-values are USGS.
Tampa open about $69, USGS MCS 2022, toward $183 in the fourth quarter, is the contract path that averaged toward $92.30. Mid-June $192, BC Insight, is a print above that average. Annual unit-value is not a June contract. Both belong on the 2021 tape.
Heartland's June tank and Argus's forming projects are the Canadian logistics response to a unit-value that was leaving $24.60. Remelt economics improve when US molten and Vancouver FOB leave the pandemic trough. They had started to. They had not yet reached $478.
Figures follow USGS MCS 2023. US elemental unit value about $92.30 in 2021 is the annual-price chapter of the recovery year.