Sulfur (global market)

Chemical industry in the world

Main article: Chemical industry in the world

Chronicle

2024: Global Sulfur Market Growth to 34.6 Mt

In 2020-2024 global sulfur imports increased by 11%: from 31.2 to 34.6 million tons. This is evidenced by BusinesStat data released in February 2025. The largest importing countries were China and Morocco. Significant volumes of sulfur were supplied to Brazil. Asia and Africa are showing maximum growth in imported sulphur purchases. For 2020-2024, the most active sulfur imports were increased by the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Indonesia (by 1.8 million tons each), China (by 0.6 million tons), Madagascar (by 0.2 million tons).^[1]

2023: Global sulphur output cut by 1.14% to 82.1 million tonnes

In 2022, approximately 82.1 million tons of sulfur were produced globally. This is 1.14% less than the previous year. The reason for the decline was a decrease in global demand for fertilizers, as stated in the BusinesStat review, published at the end of December 2024.

Sulfur is used for the production of sulfuric acid, for the vulcanization of rubber, as a fungicide for pest control, for the manufacture of matches and sulfur wicks, as well as for the preparation of sulfur dioxide when bleaching. As part of serobitumen compositions, it is used to obtain seroasphalt, and as a substitute for Portland cement - to obtain serobetone. The BusinesStat study examines sulfur of all species except sublimated, precipitated and colloidal.

In 2018, global sulfur production was estimated to be 83.7 million tonnes. A year later, growth was recorded at 2.23% - up to 85.6 million tons. Stable demand for mineral fertilizers against the background of the development of global agricultural production contributed to sulfur sales. However, in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a decline: the volume of sulfur production on an annualized basis decreased by 4.81%, amounting to 81.5 million tons. Quarantine restrictions violated the chains of production and supply of fertilizers, which negatively affected the production of products. In 2021, the industry began to recover: production rose by 1.9% and reached 83 million tons.

In 2022, the market again showed negative dynamics. The most noticeable decline in production was noted in China and the UAE. At the same time, it was China that became the main manufacturer of sulfur with a result of 18.1 million tons. In addition, the rating of leading producers includes the United States (8.6 million tons), Saudi Arabia (7 million tons), Russia (6 million tons) and the United Arab Emirates (6 million tons).^[2]

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