Sulfur – Uses, Prices, and Production

This blog is the eighteenth in a series of blogs I plan to write providing use, price, and production data on high-use inorganic and organic chemicals.  Click here to see the first blog in this series and a list of chemicals to be featured.  This blog provides data on sulfur.  The primary purpose of these blogs is to present estimates of recent price, production, and sales revenues for the chemicals.  The last blog in this series will compare price, production, and sales data for all the chemicals. 

Uses.  Uses of sulfur include:

Ø  In the production of sulfuric acid (85-95% of use);

Ø  In rubber production;

Ø  As a plant nutrient (fertilizer);

Ø  As a raw material in synthesizing sulfur-containing inorganic and organic chemicals, used in many industries and as finished products; and

Ø  In gunpowder and matches.

Most of the sulfuric acid produced is used to make phosphate fertilizers.   Sulfuric acid is produced from sulfur by reacting sulfur with oxygen to produce sulfur dioxide and sulfur trioxide, which is added to water to produced sulfuric acid.

Prices.  From the internet, 2019 global sulfur prices are estimated to range from $80 to $100 per metric ton (mt).   

Production.  Sulfur can be obtained from elemental sulfur deposits in the earth crust and from sulfur-containing minerals.  However, most sulfur is extracted out of natural gas and petroleum as a byproduct.

From the internet, estimated 2019 global production of sulfur is in the 75 to 80 million mt range.  Using 75 and 80 million mt produced and the prices of $80 and $100 per mt (see Prices above) gives global revenues generated by sulfur in 2019 in the $6 to $8 billion range (75 million mt times $80 per mt; 80 million mt times $100 per mt).