A record sulphur rally triggered by the Iran war has driven up costs for nickel producers in Indonesia and copper miners in Africa.
Sulphuric acid is an important part of mining and metal refining. The Middle East accounts for 24% of global sulphur production, where it is a byproduct of oil and gas refining.
Sulphur prices in Indonesia have risen about 20% since the war to around $600 a ton, according to Argus. However some sales to high-pressure acid leaching nickel refiners are over $700 a ton, according to a trader supplying the sector.
In Southern Africa prices are up 37% to $715 a ton since the Iran war and small bagged sulphur quantities sold from African port warehouse stocks have jumped 66% to $1,000, according to Maria Mosquera, head of sulphur pricing at Argus.
Sulphur prices are at their highest level in at least five years, according to Argus data since 2021.
If high price are sustained, it could delay project expansions and lead to slower supply growth in the African copperbelt, according to Raghav Jain, head of nickel and copper pricing at Argus.
The rally in sulphur and sulphuric acid prices is likely to mean yet another windfall for China’s copper smelters, partly offsetting historically weak treatment and refining charges.
(By Dylan Duan, Lewis Jackson, Pratima Desai and Tom Daly)
