Sulphur 414 Sep-Oct 2024
30 September 2024
This year will be the 40th Sulphur – now Sulphur + Sulphuric Acid – Conference to be held. From its beginnings in Canada to this year’s meeting at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Barcelona, much has changed, but its mission – to be an essential annual forum for the global sulphur and acid community – remains the same.
The sulphuric acid market is seeing a contraction due to lack of sulphur availability, demand destruction in the phosphate sector and restricted Chinese exports.
Ambitious expansion plans face exposure to trade route disruption.
• The global sulphur market outlook is flat to soft in the near term: most
Most key sulphur import markets remained stagnant in late August due to weak demand. A premium is being paid for cargoes with guaranteed delivery schedules, driven by ongoing logistical risks in the Middle East. This has firmed prices in North America and Indonesia, but the potential return of supply from Russia and Kazakhstan may add some downward pressure.
The scale up of low carbon hydrogen has proved slower, more selective and more geographically concentrated than the ambitious plans announced earlier in the decade had anticipated.