The Sulphur dynamics in the Chinese domestic market remained bullish in March, on the back of curtailed refining activities in China as the resurgence of COVID laid out a great impact on the domestic demand dynamics in China. This proportionally impacted the demand from the downstream industries and the refiners dropped their operating rates. In addition, the gyration in the international Crude Oil market amidst the conflict between Russia and Ukraine coupled with the ignorance of the Russian energy supplies tightened the availability as the majority of the European players were keen on the Middle-eastern supplies. Whereas, several Chinese private refiners were hesitant to procure Russian Crude due to the imposition of strict actions regarding the arbitrage with the western nations.

In response, the supplies of goods at the ports were tight, as the resurgence of COVID in China slows the pace of the onloading and offloading activities at major ports, beside that, the port traffic exceeded 500% of the required limit in the second half of March. In addition to the positive trend, the support from the downstream Sulphuric Acid market is also persistently soaring, as of March the spot market of Sulphuric Acid strengthened by 40% in March alone. Such market developments were majorly contributed by the low levels of the domestic refineries and the market supplies were short against the seasonal hype from the downstream fertilizers industries.    

As per ChemAnalyst, several market players were actively and constantly monitoring the peace negotiation between Russia and Ukraine. As they strongly believe that the unprecedented inflation in the international commodity market can only be consolidated by the stoppage of Russia’s special military operations on Ukraine. The supplies of Sulphur from the Middle Eastern market remained healthy despite some cost restrictions imposed after the freight charges strengthen amidst the conflict.