Port of Vancouver data via Argus showed August 2025 sulfur exports of 304,675 tonnes, down 5 percent year on year, with China 133,907 tonnes and the United States 51,249 tonnes, treated as likely Tampa-linked. January-August exports remained ahead year on year at about 2.35 million tonnes, up 3 percent. The item is at https://www.argusmedia.com/en/news-and-insights/latest-market-news/2738944-vancouver-sulfur-exports-down-on-year-in-aug.
China's 133,907 tonnes is 44 percent of that August stem. Full-year VFPA would put China at 1.30 million tonnes, down 16 percent, about 37 percent of 3.51 million. August was a China-heavier month inside a year that was diversifying away from China. One month is not the mix.
The US 51,249 tonnes is Pacific solid, not molten rail. Trade press treating it as Tampa-linked means Florida phosphate economics were bid far enough west to pull formed tonnes off a British Columbia dock. USGS Tampa was $252 per long ton in early July and $310 in early October. August sits between those prints.
Alberta recovered sulfur still leaves mainly through Vancouver. A destination pair of China and the US in a resistance month is still a two-hub North American story. Brazil's separate January-August 122,842 tonnes is the third hub. Indonesia's January-July slip of 23 percent is the fourth name that did not show in this August pair.
SunSirs' later 2025 Chinese import year of 9.61 million tonnes at $274 average, December 422,400 tonnes, is the national bid. Vancouver's 133,907 tonnes in August is one origin's piece of a still-large, more expensive Chinese book. Middle East remains the larger share of that book until 2026's mix shift.
Buyers resisting elevated prices early in the third quarter is the Argus explanation for the 5 percent year-on-year drop. January-July FOB averaged $238 versus $78 a year earlier. Resistance after a triple is not a return to $78. It is a pause before $305-310 in early October.
Remelt of Alberta block continues through a pause. Provincial stock at 11.66 million tonnes in July does not wait for Chinese tenders. It waits for FOB to clear $150-plus chain costs. August FOB still did.
Figures follow Argus on port data. Licensed weekly grids are not restated.