SunSirs' international sulfur review for the week of September 15 put China import sulfur CFR in a 525 to 1,050 dollars per tonne band in open market reporting.
Granular grades were quoted at 1,000 to 1,050 dollars per tonne at the top of that range, while lower numbers in the same band reflect distressed origins and non-granular qualities.
The spread illustrates why headline Middle East FOB contract cuts do not automatically lower Chinese landed costs when only premium formed product clears at four digits.
QatarEnergy's September 2026 monthly sulfur contract at 880 dollars per tonne FOB, repeated in SunSirs' earlier September reviews, sits far below granular import parity once freight and Hormuz-route insurance are included.
SunSirs has previously put theoretical CFR southern China landed cost above 1,070 dollars per tonne when insurance surcharges on risk cargoes are counted, and mid-September reporting keeps that structural split intact.
BC Insight's September 15 market insight described global sulphur prices as broadly flat while quoting Indian import offers in a 1,050 to 1,100 dollars per tonne CFR band.
The India CFR band and SunSirs' granular China import top near 1,050 dollars per tonne are consistent with a market that prices scarcity at the destination, not at the FOB contract posting.
Chinese port inventories near 884,000 tonnes in BC Insight's account, described as an eleven-week high, weigh on domestic benchmarks even as import parity stays elevated on freight risk.
Shengyishe's national benchmark fell to 7,704.00 yuan per tonne on September 16, a domestic correction that does not by itself collapse seaborne granular offers near 1,000 dollars.
Hormuz commodity transits remained in single digits on September 15 and 16 according to Reuters preliminary data, keeping Middle East bulk sulfur off the seaborne market in open fertilizer trackers.
For Alberta forming plants and the Vancouver stem, granular import prints near 1,000 dollars per tonne support Pacific export netbacks while Gulf load ports stay impaired.
The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority's 2025 sulphur total of 3,507,428 metric tonnes, up 5 percent year on year, remains the last full-year harbour anchor for Canadian swing supply.
Alberta provincial sulfur stocks at 11.66 million tonnes in July 2025 in open AER-derived reporting keep the inventory-draw narrative in place even when Chinese indices fall.
Desk read: week-of-15 September SunSirs CFR is the import-side proof that Pacific tonnes still compete into a four-digit granular window. Watch whether granular holds 1,000 to 1,050 dollars if domestic benchmarks stabilize near 7,700 yuan.