Shanghai Metals Market public analysis dated 21 August reported that Canada exported 527,305 metric tonnes of elemental sulfur in June 2026, down 15.43 percent month on month and 8.62 percent year on year. The article is at https://news.metal.com/newscontent/104072967-smm-analysis-canada-sulphur-and-sulphuric-acid-import-and-export-data-for-june. SMM processed public data. This is not a licensed PRA weekly assessment.
Top destinations in that June account were Indonesia at 198,612 tonnes, the United States at 158,031 tonnes, Chile at 54,672 tonnes, Guinea at 41,272 tonnes, and China at 32,730 tonnes. Monthly sulfur imports were 1,035 tonnes. The destination stack is a Hormuz-era mix: nickel-belt Indonesia first, US second, China a thin fifth.
Sulphuric acid exports rose 101 percent month on month to 123,140 tonnes, mostly to the United States. That acid line is a different HS book from elemental 2503, but it is the same Canada-US corridor the USGS MCS 2026 table already showed Canada leading, at 54 percent of US sulfuric acid imports for 2021-24. June's doubling is a monthly pulse on that structural share.
A 527,305 tonne June is still a large Canadian month. Twelve times that figure would be about 6.3 million tonnes, above SMM's own first-four-month annualized 5.22 million tonne pace. The month-on-month drop of 15.43 percent and the year-on-year drop of 8.62 percent say the spring surge cooled without collapsing. Alberta forming plants do not print a straight line through Vancouver.
China at 32,730 tonnes in June is the sharpest destination signal. VFPA's 2025 full-year table still had China at 1.30 million tonnes. SMM's own H1 China import review put January-June 2026 Chinese sulfur imports at about 2.26 million tonnes, down 57.7 percent, with June near 0.147 million tonnes, a multi-year low. Canadian tonnes followed that Chinese pull lower even as Indonesia and the US took more of the June cargo list.
Indonesia at 198,612 tonnes is HPAL and acid demand that does not wait on a Florida planting calendar. Nickel Industries started the sulfuric acid plant at its Excelsior Nickel Cobalt project at IMIP, Central Sulawesi, in the final week of June. New Indonesian acid capacity is a structural pull on sulfur units even when Chinese phosphate runs are cut.
The United States at 158,031 tonnes of elemental sulfur in a single month is a large solid-export print into a country that also buys Canadian molten by rail. USGS put Canada's share of US recovered elemental sulfur imports at 53 percent for 2021-24. June 2026 is consistent with that dominance while US Gulf spot solids were being offered, in Argus open news, at $1,100-1,150 per tonne FOB (https://www.argusmedia.com/en/news-and-insights/latest-market-news/2851577-tampa-3q-liquid-sulphur-price-hits-record-705-lt).
Chile at 54,672 tonnes and Guinea at 41,272 tonnes are copper-belt and West African pulls that Middle East origins used to serve more easily. US Gulf Q2 cargoes, in the same Argus cycle, also reached North Africa and East Africa. Canadian June destinations show the same geography of shortage: buyers who cannot wait for Hormuz.
Alberta recovered sulfur still leaves mainly through the Vancouver stem. A June cooling versus May does not reverse the H1 swing-supplier role SMM assigned Canada after Russian, Kazakh, and Gulf doors closed. It does say China is no longer the default monthly bid, and that Indonesia and the US are doing more of the clearing.
Figures follow the 21 August SMM customs article only. Licensed weekly assessment grids are not redistributed here.