Shengyishe's September 18 sulfur trend analysis classified the market as a pullback with a bullish bias, a different label from the weak rebound read published on September 17.
The five-day average spread improved to negative 176.00 yuan per tonne from negative 292.33 yuan on September 17, a less negative short-term reading after several down sessions.
The ten-day spread moved to negative 235.52 yuan per tonne from negative 153.96 yuan on September 17, while the twenty-day spread eased slightly to negative 231.21 yuan from negative 233.86 yuan.
That combination produces a (+, −, +) spread signal Shengyishe associates with oscillation and a bullish tilt while prices sit near the 60-day and three-month low band.
The trend page should be read alongside the September 18 benchmark print of 7,685.67 yuan per tonne, not as a substitute for it.
September 17's (+, −, −) weak rebound label coincided with no new benchmark yuan price, leaving 7,704.00 yuan on September 16 as the prior anchor until today's release.
Port inventories near 947,000 tonnes in late August in BC Insight's September 18 Price Trends still cap spot upside even when short-term spreads improve.
Hormuz congestion left roughly 400,000 tonnes of loaded backlog rising toward 600,000 tonnes on thirteen waiting vessels in the same BC Insight account, keeping seaborne Gulf tonnes off normalized schedules.
SunSirs granular China import offers near 1,000 to 1,050 dollars per tonne for the week of September 15 remain the import-side floor domestic indices can undershoot without collapsing landed parity.
SMM's September 18 weekly review kept Middle East FOB sulphur at an 855 dollars per tonne average while Shandong EXW sulphur fell 7.2 percent week on week.
For Alberta recovered sulfur on the Vancouver stem, a bullish-tilt technical label does not restore Hormuz bulk flows or lower Pacific insurance premiums on its own.
BC Insight firmed Vancouver FOB to 1,100 to 1,200 dollars per tonne on a confirmed Southern Africa sale, the Pacific price print that matters for Canadian netbacks this session.
Canadian HS 2503 elemental sulfur remains off Ottawa's September counter-tariff tables, so trade-lane risk is still list-text risk rather than an active duty on sulfur exports.
Desk read: September 18 technicals are stabilizing, not reversing. Watch whether the five-day spread can hold above negative 176 yuan if the benchmark continues to drift below 7,700 yuan.