Tag: CRU

CRU's fertilizer team provides their top calls for 2026

Fertilizer sales to Brazilian farmers are currently in line with the average of the past three years, despite variations by crop and state. CRU’s Anthony Rizzo and Bruno Fardim Christo of Veeries provide an update on the status of fertilizers and crops in the Brazilian market.

Join us at the 2025 Sulphur + Sulphuric Acid Expoconference in The Woodlands, Texas, 3-5November, for a truly global gathering of the sulphur and sulphuric acid community, where leading market and technology experts and producers will gather to connect, share knowledge, exchange ideas and learn about market trends and the latest developments in operations, technology, processes and equipment.

This issue of Sulphur magazine contains a preview of CRU’s Sulphur + Sulphuric Acid conference in Woodlands, Texas, which is being held from November 3rd to 5th this year, giving delegates the opportunity to meet and discuss some of the trends which are continuing to change the sulphur and sulphuric acid industries. Some of this is echoed in our editorial coverage this issue; the rise of electric vehicles and the continuing electrification of society is changing demand for metals and impacting upon both sulphur and sulphuric acid markets alike. As CRU’s principal analyst Peter Harrison discusses on pages 36-37, battery demand for nickel is leading to a surge in new nickel leaching capacity in Indonesia which is drawing in greatly increased volumes of sulphur, while rising demand for copper is leading to additional volumes of smelter acid from China, India and Indonesia which are impacting the merchant market for acid, as detailed by CRU’s Viviana Alvorado on pages 38-40. In the United States, new lithium mines will require additional sulphur (see pages 22-23). Rare earths and battery metal recovery will form a major topic on the first day of the Sulphur + Sulphuric Acid conference, with speakers from Lithium Americas, one of the pioneers of the new US lithium industry.

In this CRU Insight, Peter Harrisson reports on how battery materials have become a powerful driver of sulphur consumption growth.

CRU's analyst Viviana Alvarado discusses the effect of smelter outages and maintenance, a copper concentrate shortage, and Asian capacity ramp ups, on sulphuric acid supply and prices.

In this CRU Insight, Wahome Muya and Willis Thomas of CRU Consulting take a deep dive into the long-term prospects for potassium sulphate (SOP).

In this CRU Insight, Anthony Rizzo explains why market participants should expect an uneven global demand picture in 2026 and highlights regional variations.

Worley has announced that Tiernan O’Rourke will step down as the company’s Chief Financial Officer effective from 30 June 2025. O’Rourke is retiring from full-time work after a long and successful career culminating in nearly four years of dedicated service to Worley, though he intends to take on advisory and consulting activities in the private sector. Worley’s Chief Executive Officer, Chris Ashton, said: “It’s been an absolute pleasure to work alongside Tiernan since he joined the Worley team and see his decades of experience benefit the business in areas such as capital management, financial process improvements and talent development to name a few. I wish him well as he transitions away from the CFO role.”

BASF Corporation has appointed Heather Remley as its new president and chief executive officer, effective April 1, 2025. She takes the helm of the North American arm of BASF SE, one of the world’s largest chemical companies. Remley has a background in global leadership and operations. Most recently, she was president of BASF’s global engineering services division in Ludwigshafen, Germany. Before that, she led the company’s North American petrochemicals business as senior vice president in Houston. Since joining BASF in 2016, she has held key positions across the US, China, and Germany.