Market reports and CRU analysis describe China moving from acid export quotas, about 700,000 tonnes in January-April 2026 versus about 1.3 million tonnes a year earlier, to a near-total export halt from early May. China had exported about 4.65 million tonnes of sulfuric acid in 2025, up 73 percent year on year. First-half 2026 exports fell to about 0.78 million tonnes, down 64 percent, with June collapsing to about 980 tonnes.
The CRU thought-leadership note is at https://www.crugroup.com/en/communities/thought-leadership/2026/chinas-export-halt-reinforces-bullish-sulphuric-acid-sentiment/. The exit removes a key seaborne acid source for fertilizer and metals consumers in Asia and beyond. Acid is not elemental sulfur. It is sulfur units already burned. Taking 4.65 million tonnes of acid off the water is a second shortage on top of missing elemental cargoes through Hormuz.
SMM and Exiger reporting in the same file describe the quota-then-halt sequence. January-April still moved about 700,000 tonnes. Early May is the break. June at about 980 tonnes is a statistical zero for a country that had been the swing seaborne acid exporter a year earlier.
Itafos later said China sulfuric acid exports were halted, in the 9 August Conda remarks. That company-level confirmation matches the CRU May frame. Western US acid buyers who had treated Chinese acid as a residual option no longer had it. Kennecott and Tampa-index pricing are inland answers.
Metals consumers, including Indonesian HPAL and African copper leaching, had used seaborne acid when elemental sulfur forming or on-site burning was tight. ENC's late-June on-site acid plant is one local substitute. Southern African copper is farther from a substitute. TFI and CRU both treated African copper consumers as resisting prices in the May-August commentary.
Alberta recovered sulfur still leaves mainly through the Vancouver stem. An acid halt does not automatically lift elemental sulfur exports from Vancouver. It can, if overseas acid buyers switch to burning elemental sulfur. It can also simply cut metals and fertilizer output. June's 980 tonnes of Chinese acid exports is the halt. It is not yet a proven elemental-sulfur bid.
China's own elemental sulfur imports were collapsing at the same time, to 268,300 tonnes in May on SunSirs figures. An economy that neither imports sulfur nor exports acid is an economy whose phosphate and metals chains are running down. MAP toward 40 percent and DAP toward 30 percent utilization is that running down.
Tampa Q3 molten at $705 per long ton (Argus, https://www.argusmedia.com/en/news-and-insights/latest-market-news/2851577-tampa-3q-liquid-sulphur-price-hits-record-705-lt) is the US molten print of a world short both elemental sulfur and seaborne acid. US Gulf solid exports at $1,100-1,150 FOB are the dry-bulk print. Neither is a Chinese acid price.
The desk will treat June's 980 tonnes as the confirmation print of the May halt. A later customs month that returns Chinese acid exports toward the 2025 run-rate would be the reversal. Until then, seaborne acid is a missing book.
Figures follow CRU, SMM, and Exiger as cited. Licensed weekly grids are not restated.