IndexBox series put China's sulfur import price at a 2022 peak near $471 per tonne CIF in June before the July-September collapse. June import volumes also peaked near 948,000 tonnes before three consecutive monthly declines as phosphate export policy tightened. The September price note that carries the series is at https://www.indexbox.io/blog/china-sulphur-price-in-september-2022/.
$471 CIF and 948,000 tonnes is the last expensive, large month. Second-quarter imports of 2.4 million tonnes, up 50 percent, Argus, include this June. September $129 and 544,000 tonnes are the third consecutive decline. The quota is dated July. June is the peak the quota killed.
Alberta recovered sulfur still leaves mainly through Vancouver. The 26 May Argus sample listed FOB Vancouver at $476-480 per tonne and Vancouver-China freight for 50-60,000 tonne stems near $41-46 per tonne. $471 CIF is consistent with that FOB-plus-freight neighbourhood, allowing for timing and parcel mix. Licensed weekly grids are not restated. The $471 figure is IndexBox customs-linked.
Tampa $481 in early April, USGS, is the Florida peak, two months earlier. Seaborne CIF into China peaked in June. Molten contracts peaked in April. Two calendars, one cycle. TFI's plus 198 percent March 2021 to March 2022 is the cost-shock that was already in farm budgets before this June CIF print.
Qatar May QSP at $460 FOB and UAE/Kuwait at $470, Argus sample, are the Gulf origin prices under $471 CIF. Huaxicun halted 16 June, in this peak month. Paper died at the top. Physical followed in July.
Canada's share of this 948,000 tonne month is not broken out in the IndexBox September blog item. Treat June as a national Chinese peak. Vancouver's 2.39 million tonnes January-October includes whatever Canadian cargoes cleared into that June bid. First-half-heavy stems are this peak in tonnes.
2022 import value near $2.3 billion is this $471 month plus the expensive months around it. 2023's $1.1 billion at 8.8 million tonnes is the opposite mix. June 2022 is the value peak.
Figures follow IndexBox. June $471 CIF and 948,000 tonnes is the China-price-and-volume top of 2022.