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According to Sinochem New Network, \"Affected by various factors such as geopolitical conflicts in the Middle East, adjustments in global supply structures, and rapid growth in demand for new energy sources, prices of sulfur and sulfuric acid in China have reached record highs. The operational pressures on the sulfur industry chain have increased significantly, and companies at all stages of this industry chain need to work together more closely to address this challenging situation.\" ”This is information that journalists learned at the market exchange meeting for the sulfur industry chain in the first half of 2026, held in Tongling, Anhui on April 16. According to Business Society data, regarding sulfur, on April 6, the domestic benchmark price for sulfur reached 6,700 yuan per ton, setting a new historical high ； On April 16, China’s benchmark price for sulfur dropped to 6,483.33 yuan, yet it was still over 160% higher than the same period last year. Regarding sulfuric acid, on April 16, the benchmark price for sulfuric acid was 2,100 yuan, up by about 67% compared to the same period last year, and nearly 130% higher than at the beginning of the year. “The main drivers of price increases stem from tightened sulfur supply and structural expansion on the demand side. ”Li Chong, secretary-general of the China Sulfur Industry Association, said that from the supply side, the global \"dual carbon\" strategy has led to consumption of fossil fuels approaching its peak, thereby limiting the increase in sulfur produced as a by-product of oil refining. In 2025, China’s imports of sulfur declined by slightly 3.5% on a year-on-year basis. Although domestic sulfur production increased by 7.2%, it was not enough to cover the shortfall, resulting in port inventories dropping from a peak of 2.68 million tons to around 1.5 million tons at present. Zhao Lei, a senior analyst at S&P Global, analyzed the reasons behind the tight supply of sulfur in the spot market. The core shortfall stems from exports from the Middle East being lower than expected and disruptions to supply in Eurasia, while Canadian exports are already at full capacity; moreover, future capacity expansions for sulfuric acid production in Kazakhstan will further reduce sulfur exports. Freda Gordon, a senior analyst at AcuityCommodities Ltd, noted that disruptions to traffic in the Strait of Hormuz have cut off the Middle East’s supply of around 56% of the world’s seaborne sulfur, while also interrupting imports of sulfuric acid. Coupled with a sharp rise in ship fuel costs and freight rates, many shipments have been forced to take alternative routes, experience delays, or even be canceled, further exacerbating the shortage in the sulfur market. The structural expansion on the demand side cannot be ignored either. Zhao Lei mentioned that nearly 70% of the world’s sulfur is used in the production of fertilizers, with the remainder going to industrial applications. Among these, sulfur is used in the wet processing of non-ferrous metals, and demand for it continues to grow. The rapid development in the field of new energy and new materials has also become a key factor driving up demand for sulfur; industries such as wet-process nickel, lithium iron phosphate, lithium carbonate, and purified phosphoric acid exert a significant impact on sulfur demand. The wet smelting projects in Indonesia are progressing steadily, becoming an important source of demand growth for the global sulfur market. Liao Kangcheng, deputy secretary-general of the Sulfuric Acid Association, said that current copper smelting and processing costs have dropped to record lows, putting upstream smelting companies under unprecedented operational pressure ； The price of sulfur resources reaching record highs has further plunged downstream phosphate fertilizer manufacturers into losses. Faced with this difficult situation, the upstream and downstream sectors of the sulfur industry need to enhance communication and cooperate closely, employing various measures such as supply and demand regulation, enterprise-backed supply guarantees, and technological alternatives to strive for a stable supply of sulfur resources. “In the future, technologies that can recycle sulfur resources such as producing sulfuric acid from gypsum and recovering sulfur dioxide from exhaust gases to produce sulfuric acid, as well as phosphorus chemical technologies like thermal phosphoric acid and phosphatic fertilizers that can bypass the need for sulfur resources, all hold good prospects for adoption and a strong market potential. ”Liao Kangcheng said.