USGS estimated total US sulfur production in 2023 about unchanged from 2022 near 8.6 million tonnes, with elemental recovered about 8.0 million tonnes and shipments valued about $860 million. Average elemental unit value eased to about $100 per tonne from $150 per tonne in 2022. The PDF is at https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2024/mcs2024-sulfur.pdf.
MCS 2026 later put 2024 US all-forms at 8.32 million tonnes, down from 8.65 million in 2023, unit value $46.42. The 2023 8.6 million tonne unchanged line is the plateau after 2022's $150 unit-value spike year. Volume held. Price did not. $860 million of shipments at $100 per tonne is a different commercial year from 2022's about $1.3 billion at $150.
Alberta recovered sulfur still leaves mainly through Vancouver. US 8.6 million tonnes is the Atlantic recovered book that prices Tampa. Canada about 4.98 million tonnes in MCS 2025's 2023 line is the Pacific and rail book. USGS import sources for 2019-22 still showed Canada at 77 percent of US elemental imports. Unchanged US output did not displace that rail share.
Tampa $90 to $130 to $55 to $102 across 2023, in the same MCS 2024, is the contract path under a flat 8.6 million tonne year. Unit value $100 is a yearly average. $55 in mid-July is a monthly trough. Two different USGS prints, one surplus year.
Gulf Coast January-September 3.57 million tonnes, up 3 percent, Argus citing USGS, is the regional engine. Other US regions declined. Refining on the Gulf stayed busy. Inland recovered streams did not. Lost capacity since 2019 still capped a return to older peaks, as Argus had warned.
World about 85.8 million tonnes in MCS 2025's 2023 line, China about 19.4 million, is the planet this 8.6 million tonne US print sits on. Flat US output plus rising Alberta oil-sands sulfur plus Kazakh and Saudi stock draws is why $481 did not return. Phosphate at 64.3 million tonnes MAP and DAP, still below 2020, is why $55 did.
Apparent US consumption in later MCS 2026 was 9.36 million tonnes for 2024 and 9.1 million for 2025e. 2023's 8.6 million tonne production plus imports, Canada-led, filled a similar domestic book. Net import reliance later estimated at 14 percent in 2025 is the structural gap Canadian rail fills.
Figures follow USGS MCS 2024. Licensed weekly grids are not restated. The 8.6 million tonne unchanged print is the US production chapter of 2023.