Elemental Sulfur Market

Increasing demand for elemental sulphur in agricultural products is expected to drive global market growth

China and India are the most populated countries in the world and as a result, there is a rapidly increasing demand for food and agricultural products in these nations. This creates a necessity to produce maximum yield with the available agricultural land. The demand for fertilisers is escalating to sustain the increase in food production.

In APEJ, China and India are the major consumer markets for fertilisers. The two countries together accounted for over 55% share in the global fertiliser market in terms of consumption in 2015. Thus rising demand for fertilisers coupled with an increase in the production of fertilisers in the APEJ region will result in an increase in demand for elemental sulphur over the forecast period.

Sulphuric acid finds application in the production of various metals such as copper, zinc and nickel. Among these, the production of copper dominates the sulphuric acid market in terms of consumption in the mining application. This rise in production of metals in the North America region, especially in the U.S. has significantly impacted the consumption of sulphuric acid for the leaching of metals from their oxide ores. A growing use of elemental sulphur in the mining operation is creating a positive impact on the global elemental sulphur market.

Around 90% of elemental sulphur produced is utilised for the production of sulphuric acid, which finds applications in chemicals, petroleum refining, automobile batteries and metal leaching, among others. Within the chemicals industry, increasing consumption of sulphuric acid for waste water treatment, ph control and other applications will help drive the demand for elemental sulphur, thereby boosting revenue growth of the global market.

The use of elemental sulphur for agrochemicals is projected to remain lucrative both in terms of market share and CAGR index in Europe

The use of elemental sulphur for agrochemicals is expected to remain dominant throughout the forecast period in Western Europe. The mining and metallurgy application segment is expected to hold a relatively small share and expand at a low CAGR as compared to other application segments.

In Eastern Europe, the paper and pulp application segment is also projected to create significant growth opportunities during the course of the decade. Moreover, applications such as chemicals and petroleum refining and rubber and plastics are also projected to remain lucrative over the forecast period.

Market segmentation

Application

• Agrochemicals
• Chemical & Petroleum Refining
• Rubber & Plastics
• Mining & Metallurgy
• Paper & Pulp
• Others

Region

• North America
• Latin America
• Western Europe
• Eastern Europe
• APEJ
• Japan
• MEA

Source

• Gas Based
• Oil Based
• Mining
• Others