Shifting sulphur patterns outpace shipping

• Autores: Industrial Minerals
• Localización: Industrial Minerals, ISSN 0019-8544, Nº. 578, 2015 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Diciembre)
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Annual global production of elemental sulphur is currently in the region of 70m tonnes, of which virtually all is "recovered" sulphur, a byproduct of operations at petroleum refineries and natural gas plants. The bulk of sulphur shipped on the international market is sourced from the Middle East, the Former Soviet Union and east Asia, with most coming from sour gas, oil and mining operations. In China, the Sichuan gas fields across the southeast of the country are increasing output, with close to 8m tonnes sulphur predicted to be exported by 2017, up from around 6.3m tonnes in 2014 and 7m tonnes in 2015.

    Across the Mediterranean Sea market, Moroccan buyers have also slowly shifted their sourcing of sulphur. At the turn of the century half of Moroccan imports originated from either Poland or Saudi Arabia. The market share of sulphur from these two countries has now dwindled to about 15% of Moroccan imports, while Russia's market share has risen to 43%. The growth of imports from UAE has only partially compensated for the contractions in imports from Saudi Arabia. Notably, however, the change in market share seldom affected the average tonne-mile demand for this supramax trade.

    Dust is the main concern with solid sulphur, so movement of dry bulk sulphur between production, storage, ship or truck, and final destination requires various types of handling equipment, such as conveyors, screws, hoppers and chutes. If dry sulphur is stored outdoors for several days or weeks, the stockpile can be coated with molten sulphur to form a crust which prevents it from being blown away.