Vancouver Fraser Port Authority statistics put Port of Vancouver sulphur at 3,103,912 tonnes in 2023, up 11 percent. Separately, IndexBox reports China's sulfur imports rose 16 percent to 8.8 million tonnes in 2023 after three years of decline, though import value fell to about $1.1 billion on lower prices. Canada supplied about 1.2 million tonnes into China. The VFPA PDF is at https://www.portvancouver.com/sites/default/files/2024-08/Statistics-overview-2021-to-2023.pdf.
The volume ladder is 2.29 million tonnes in 2021, 2.79 million in 2022, 3.10 million in 2023. 2023 is the third step. Volume grew through a soft-price year. That is term offtake and logistics clearing after the 2022 spike-and-crash, not a second FOB boom. VFPA's cargo release highlighted sulfur among record dry-bulk and overall port trade of 150.4 million metric tonnes, up 6 percent.
Alberta recovered sulfur still leaves mainly through this stem. South Cheecham sulphur facilities commenced operations at the beginning of the third quarter of 2023, Keyera reported, about 4,400 tonnes a day of forming near Fort McMurray. BC Insight later summarized 2023 Canadian production near 4.5 million tonnes a year with about 2.6 million from oil sands upgrading and 1.7 million from sour gas, against domestic use near 0.6 million. Exports near 4.1 million included roughly 1.3 million tonnes molten south to the US and about 2.8 million via Vancouver, with a modest stock draw.
Canada's 1.2 million tonnes into China's 8.8 million tonne import year is the Vancouver stem in a customs table. IndexBox's top-three list put Canada, South Korea, and the UAE at about 1.1 to 1.2 million tonnes each, together about 39 percent of imports. Gulf granules still competed. They would not, in the same way, after 28 February 2026.
Tampa opened 2023 near $90 per long ton and closed the fourth quarter at $102, after a mid-July trough of $55, USGS MCS 2024. Argus assessed Vancouver sulfur at $72 per tonne FOB midpoint on 14 December, down 25 percent since the start of the fourth quarter. A 3.10 million tonne harbour year at those FOB ideas is a volume year. Remelt of remote Alberta block stayed selective.
Indonesian sulfur imports of about 2.7 million tonnes in 2023, S&P Global Energy, three times 2020, are the metals bid under this Chinese recovery. Global nickel-related sulfur use at 3.5 million tonnes in 2023, BC Insight, from 1.7 million in 2020, competed with phosphate for seaborne tonnes even in a soft fertilizer year. Vancouver's 3.10 million tonnes sold into both books.
July 2023's 13-day strike disrupted loadings. The 11 percent annual increase still printed. Base-effect into 2024's 15 percent January-August gain starts from this 3.10 million tonne year. The 2024 harbour would be 3.35 million. The 2025 harbour 3.51 million. 2023 is when Canadian solid sulfur became a structural Pacific staple rather than a spike-year swing.
Figures follow VFPA and IndexBox. Licensed weekly grids are not restated.