Port of Vancouver data showed August 2025 sulfur exports at 304,675 tonnes, down 5 percent from 320,178 tonnes in August 2024, as buyers resisted elevated prices early in the third quarter. China took 133,907 tonnes and the United States 51,249 tonnes, the latter treated in the reporting as likely Tampa-linked. January-August exports were still ahead year on year at about 2.35 million tonnes, up 3 percent. Argus is at https://www.argusmedia.com/en/news-and-insights/latest-market-news/2738944-vancouver-sulfur-exports-down-on-year-in-aug.
A single down month inside an up year is resistance, not a broken stem. January-July had been 2.04 million tonnes, up nearly 5 percent, FOB average $238 versus $78 a year earlier. August is the month buyers pushed back before September's estimated 386,000 tonne rebound and early October FOB at $305-310.
China at 133,907 tonnes is still the largest August destination and a smaller share than China's 2024 role. SunSirs' later full-year Chinese import print of 9.61 million tonnes, down 3.5 percent, with December at 422,400 tonnes, is the national version of that resistance. Vancouver's August China line is one harbour's piece.
The United States at 51,249 tonnes of Pacific solid in a month is a Tampa-linked idea in the trade press, not a USGS import-share table. Molten rail from Alberta into the US is a different book. Pacific solid into the US, up 191 percent for the full year to 302,000 tonnes in VFPA's overview, is this August line annualized in a different mix.
Alberta recovered sulfur still leaves mainly through this stem. Provincial inventory at 11.66 million tonnes in July was already the lowest since May 2019. An August loading dip does not refill block. It delays remelt by a stem month. Heartland's 700 tonne a day remelt capacity does not shut because China resists for four weeks.
Brazil's January-August 122,842 tonnes, nearly threefold, is the destination that did not resist. Tariff-risk diversion from US-origin goods into Brazilian phosphate is the Argus explanation. A stem that can sell to Brazil when China pauses is the 2025 corridor.
Tampa eased to $252 per long ton in early July, USGS, then climbed to $310 by early October. August Vancouver resistance sits in that July dip's shadow. Seasonal fertilizer buying into autumn is what Argus said would support the later FOB. It did.
Full-year VFPA 3,507,428 tonnes, up 5 percent, confirms that August's minus 5 percent did not set the year. Licensed weekly grids are not restated.
Figures follow Port of Vancouver data via Argus.