The Sulphur market in China and the Middle East continued with their bullishness, at the end of March 2025. The bullishness can be attributed to the rising production cost and the consistent rise in the demand for sulphur from the downstream agrochemical sector. However, the buyers are showcasing cautiousness amid the rising prices of sulphur.

Key Takeaways:

• The Sulphur market in China and the Middle Eastern regions experienced bullishness amid the rising production cost and surging demand from the agrochemical sector.
• Buyers are exhibiting cautiousness amid the rising prices of Sulphur.
• A gap was witnessed between the seller’s price expectations and the willingness of buyers to pay.
• QatarEnergy has announced a rise in April prices.

At the end of March 2025, the sulphur market in China witnessed a surge of 1.7% in its trend. This surge can be attributed to the rising production cost. The production cost of sulphur inclined amid an incline of 2.24% in the feedstock Crude Oil market. Furthermore, during this week, Sinopec raised its sulphur prices at two locations – Wanzhou and Dazhou, further putting pressure on the market sentiments of the commodity in China.

Furthermore, the port inventory levels witnessed a slight decline from 1.91mnt and fell to 1.83mnt on March 13, providing support to the bullish market sentiments of sulphur in China. However, a small batch of 6000 tonnes from a northern refinery failed to attract any buyers showcasing the buyer’s cautiousness amid the rising prices of sulphur.

Therefore, it can be said, that sulphur prices are rising, however, the market players are not willing to pay these higher rates. Several producers are slowing down their operations as they have adopted a wait-and-watch mode expressing their concerns over the rising prices of sulphur. 

At the same time, the sulphur market in the Middle Eastern regions also continued to showcase bullishness. The sulphur prices in Qatar showcased bullishness amid the rising production cost and the supply tightening in the global market. Furthermore, the consistently rising demand from the key importers continued to push the market upwards. This made suppliers raise their ex-quotations pushing the trend upwards. However, currently, the buyers and sellers are not on the same page about the prices of sulphur. In the recent sales, the highest bids were rejected as the buyers were not willing to pay high rates.

At present, there is a big gap between buyers and sellers. The buyers are showcasing cautiousness about the rising prices of sulphur, whereas sellers were expecting the prices to further go upwards. Therefore, this has created a standoff where deals are not easily happening because of this price disagreement. Despite this, the State-owned QatarEnergy Marketing has announced a rise in the April Qatar Sulphur Prices (QSP).

As per ChemAnalyst, the sulphur market is anticipated to continue to showcase bullishness, despite the ongoing concerns in the market sentiments. As the demand for the April shipments is strong it is expected to either maintain the prices at a higher end or even push them upwards.