Chinese port stock commentary put Zhenjiang mainstream sulfur inventory near 0.52 million tonnes at end-2021 versus about 1.09 million tonnes at the start of the year. Lower social stocks and reduced imports amid high CFR prices tightened domestic availability into 2022 spring planting and winter phosphate storage. The item is at https://www.chemnews.com.cn/c/2022-01-18/691210.shtml.
A halving of Zhenjiang visible stock is a Yangtze tightness print, not a Vancouver statistic. December import CFR was reported near $310 per tonne, about Yn2,300 equivalent, in the same trade-press file, with domestic solid near decade highs around Yn2,200. High CFR and lower imports are how stocks fall. Plants that deferred purchases in 2020 faced a thinner spot offer list.
Alberta recovered sulfur still leaves mainly through Vancouver. Canadian granules into Yangtze plants compete with this Zhenjiang stock number on a freight-adjusted basis. When port stock is 0.52 million tonnes and CFR is $310, the bid for the next vessel is firmer than when stock is 1.09 million tonnes and CFR is $141, the early-2021 neighbourhood in the same file. 2022's March import jump of about 58 percent month on month starts from this tightness.
China import dependence still near 50 percent despite rising domestic output, in the early-2021 summary from the same press, is why Zhenjiang stock matters for seaborne origins. Gulf granules and Canadian granules both serve that 50 percent. Argus expected Chinese sulfur production to rise almost 40 percent by 2025, more than 2 million tonnes a year from four near-term projects. End-2021 stock at 0.52 million tonnes is before that capacity fully arrives.
October NDRC-linked DAP and MAP export restrictions, inspections from about 15 October, had already begun to reshape Chinese phosphate trade. Lower port sulfur stock into winter storage is consistent with plants still running for domestic fertilizer while export DAP was being constrained. 2022's first-half sulfur import surge then July quota is the next chapter. December 2021 is the stock tightness that made the surge possible.
Tampa fourth quarter near $183 per long ton, USGS, is the Florida rhyme of high CFR China. Vancouver's 2.29 million tonne down year is the Pacific volume that did not yet match that price firmness in calendar tonnes. Licensed weekly grids are not restated. The 0.52 and 1.09 million tonne figures are China Chemical Information Weekly.
Middle East-Yangtze freight climbing from roughly $27 per tonne toward peaks near $69, in the same file's early-to-late 2021 path, is the ocean cost sitting on that $310 CFR. Canadian Pacific stems avoid Hormuz but still pay North Pacific dry-bulk. Two freights, one Chinese bid.
Figures follow China Chemical Information Weekly. Zhenjiang stock from 1.09 to 0.52 million tonnes is the China-inventory chapter of late 2021 tightness.