US sulfur supply : USGS view

The US Geological Survey Mineral Commodity Summaries sulfur chapter is the standard public benchmark for US production, trade, and price context. USGS reports recovered elemental sulfur and byproduct sulfuric acid from dozens of operations across many states. In the 2026 summary, elemental sulfur production was estimated near 7.6 million tons for 2025, with Louisiana and Texas together accounting for roughly half of domestic output. Refineries lead, followed by natural gas processing plants and other sources. The United States both produces and imports elemental sulfur. Canada has long supplied the majority of US elemental sulfur imports in USGS source tables for recent multi-year windows, with smaller shares from other origins depending on the year. That bilateral flow includes molten rail movements into US industrial and fertilizer consumers as well as some Pacific and other logistics paths. USGS also tracks Tampa, Florida contract prices for molten sulfur as a domestic benchmark series, which began 2025 at $116 per long ton in the 2026 MCS narrative and rose substantially as the year progressed. World production context matters for North American desks. USGS world tables show China, the United States, Russia, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Canada, Kazakhstan, and others as large producers. Canada’s USGS estimate near 5.0 Mt for 2025 sits beside CRU’s 4.7 Mt industry estimate; small differences reflect methodology and timing. Sulfur Wire surfaces USGS tables for North American context next to Canadian inventory and Vancouver export series. US Gulf dry bulk exports are the seaborne cousin of Tampa molten. Refineries with forming and terminal access can sell granular FOB Gulf; those without remain tied to domestic liquid markets. During 2026 global tightness, Argus reported very high spot Gulf export indications alongside record Tampa quarterly contracts, illustrating how the same national production base can price differently by form and Incoterm. Limitations of USGS for traders: annual summaries lag intra-year shocks; they are not a substitute for weekly PRA assessments or monthly StatCan/AER flow data. They are, however, open, citable, and consistent across decades. For Canadian readers, USGS confirms Canada’s role in US supply and provides the official US production frame against which Alberta export strategy is compared. Use USGS MCS PDFs and the Sulfur Statistics and Information page for the latest public tables. Pair them with Port of Vancouver destinations (including US-bound Pacific volumes) and WITS/Comtrade HS 2503 bilateral data for a fuller North American picture. State-level production concentration in Louisiana and Texas also explains why US Gulf FOB assessments matter for global dry bulk even when Tampa molten contracts dominate fertilizer headlines. A large share of US molecules never see a Panamax hatch; they move by tank car into domestic acid and phosphate chains. That domestic gravity is why Canadian Pacific granular and US Gulf granular can both be “North American” yet clear into different buyer sets in the same month.

US sulfur supply : USGS view

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