IndexBox customs-linked series show China's sulfur import unit value rising hard into spring 2022, with March import volumes up about 58 percent month on month as phosphate exporters pulled feedstock. Canada remained among top suppliers alongside Iran and South Korea during the spike months. The September price note that carries the series is at https://www.indexbox.io/blog/china-sulphur-price-in-september-2022/.
March's volume jump is the start of the second-quarter 2.4 million tonne surge, up 50 percent year on year, Argus. June's 948,000 tonnes and $471 CIF is the peak. March is the acceleration. October 2021 inspections had constrained DAP exports; plants still stocked sulfur in the first half of 2022 before July's quota. That lag is this 58 percent month-on-month print.
Alberta recovered sulfur still leaves mainly through Vancouver. Canadian granules among top March suppliers is the stem in a tightening CIF market. Keg River citing Fertecon put Vancouver spot from about $330-340 per tonne FOB in early March to $385-400 by late March. Tampa opened the year near $282 and would hit $481 in early April, USGS. Three climbs, one spring.
Russia's 24 February invasion sits two weeks before this March import jump. Fertilizer markets more broadly jumped on natural gas, ammonia, and phosphate concerns. Sulfur moved with that complex even though it is a recovered byproduct. Credit, vessel, and sanctions uncertainty mattered as much as physical barrels for some counterparties.
TFI's plus 198 percent sulfur cost from March 2021 to March 2022 is dated this month. The association framed fertilizer as a globally traded, geopolitically exposed commodity chain. March 2022 is that exposure in a customs table and a Tampa contract heading to $481.
Iran and South Korea alongside Canada as top suppliers is origin diversity at the spike. Gulf and East Asian recovered sulfur still competed. 2026 Hormuz near-zero commercial sulfur is a different map. March 2022 still had all doors open, just expensive.
Licensed weekly grids are not restated. The about 58 percent March volume jump and rising unit value are IndexBox customs-linked. Canada's rank among top suppliers is qualitative in that series for the spike months.
Figures follow IndexBox. March 2022's import jump is the China-volume start of the spike quarter.