Shanghai Metals Market published China's August 2026 sulfur and sulphuric acid import and export tables on September 20, giving desks the first full customs month after July's partial recovery print.
Elemental sulfur imports totalled 272,323.414 metric tonnes in physical content, down 29.34 percent month on month and 65.03 percent year on year in SMM's account.
Main import origins listed were the UAE, South Korea, Canada, Japan, Kazakhstan, Vietnam, Singapore, and the Philippines, keeping Pacific and Gulf swing suppliers in the same sentence as Middle East origins.
China exported only 48 metric tonnes of sulfur in August, down 96.34 percent month on month, with Indonesia and South Korea named as destinations in the open summary.
Sulphuric acid imports jumped to 9,938.436 metric tonnes, up 831.85 percent month on month, sourced mainly from South Korea, Taiwan, Germany, and the United States.
Acid exports were 2,474.46 metric tonnes, up 153.47 percent month on month but down 99.43 percent year on year, consistent with BC Insight's account of an unofficial Chinese acid export suspension removing roughly 2.8 million tonnes from the 2026 traded pool.
August's lower sulfur import volume follows BC Insight's July customs cite of 385,403 tonnes, up 162 percent month on month but still down 65 percent year on year.
Shengyishe's September 20 spot table held granular sulfur at 7,669 yuan per tonne unchanged on the day, while Longzhong wires the same session cut Zhenjiang port granular to 7,200 yuan, down 500 yuan week on week.
That split between customs lag and spot weakness is the desk read on Chinese demand: import books stay thin year on year even as domestic ports and Shandong liquid offers fall faster than seaborne offer levels.
SMM's July review put Canadian sulfur exports at 444,100 metric tonnes with the United States, Indonesia, Australia, Morocco, China, and Papua New Guinea as destinations, at an average price near 1,181 dollars per tonne.
Canada appearing in China's August import origin list keeps Alberta-formed tonnes in the Pacific swing-supplier story BC Insight priced at 1,100 to 1,200 dollars FOB Vancouver on 18 September.
The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority reported 3,507,428 metric tonnes of sulfur exports in 2025, up 5 percent year on year, with China still the largest listed destination at 1.30 million tonnes.
Alberta provincial sulfur stocks at 11.66 million tonnes in July 2025 in open AER-derived reporting remain the inventory anchor when Chinese import demand stays down double digits year on year.
Desk read: SMM August customs confirm a thinner China sulfur import month with Canada still in the origin set. Pair 272,323 tonnes with spot port cuts near 7,200 yuan rather than treating either print as a full demand recovery signal.