Argus reported that earlier in 2023 suppliers were remelting solid sulfur inventory to keep pace with exporter demand, before late-year price weakness squeezed high-cost remelt tonnes. Remelt is the swing valve linking Alberta blocks to Vancouver liftings. The viewpoint is at https://www.argusmedia.com/en/news-and-insights/latest-market-news/2523114-viewpoint-global-softness-to-pressure-northam-sulfur.
Early-2023 remelt is the first-half valve. December's $72 FOB midpoint is the close. Two seasons, one year. Export-process costs often cited above $150 per tonne mean remelt is a netback decision. First-quarter Tampa near $90 and a mid-January $130 spike, USGS, still looked like a market that might pay. Mid-July $55 did not. December $72 Vancouver confirmed the squeeze.
Alberta recovered sulfur still leaves mainly through the Vancouver stem. VFPA's 3.10 million tonne year includes tonnes that were remelted in the first half and tonnes that were current recovery in the second. UNCERTAIN: the split. Argus does not publish a monthly remelt ticker in the open viewpoint. The qualitative sequence is the file: remelt to pace exports, then high-cost tonnes drop out.
Heartland's 4,500 tonne a day forming and molten loading is where much remelt becomes granules or railcars. South Cheecham from 1 July is where new Fort McMurray recovery becomes granules without a long haul. Early-2023 remelt predates Cheecham's start. It is Edmonton-area and other existing nodes working block.
AER January-October production 3.78 million tonnes, up 11 percent, is more new recovery into the same year remelt first ran then slowed. More Claus plus less remelt can still grow the harbour if forming of new tonnes offsets. That is the 11 percent VFPA print with a remelt slowdown in the same sentence.
Kazakh and Saudi draws did not wait for FOB. Canadian remelt did. CRU's contrast is why April's remelt-to-pace-exports note matters. It is the last window in 2023 when Alberta pad was treated as working inventory rather than stranded optionality. 2025's 11.66 million tonne July low is when FOB paid again.
BC Insight's modest 2023 Canadian stock draw, inside a 4.1 million tonne export year, is consistent with some remelt. It is not a 377,000 tonne 2025-style AER-linked draw. April is a pace valve, not a destock headline.
Figures follow Argus. Licensed weekly grids are not restated. Early-2023 remelt is the swing valve before the $72 winter closed it.