Surging Demand and Supply Chain Disruptions Drive Up Sulphur Prices in Qatar Market

The market value of OPEC Basket rose by 1.07% due to the global energy crisis, according to the sources of Oil and Energy. This further pressured the prices of downstream Bulk Chemicals and Fertilizers as well. Among these groups of Bulk Chemicals, the highest increase was observed in the cost of Sulphur in the regional market.

The price of Sulphur was elevated in the Qatar market, with costs ranging at USD 134/tonne Granular FOB Doha as per ChemAnalyst Research Team Data on the third week of March 2023. The freight rates from the Mediterranean to East Asia plunged, but it did not have much impact on the prices of Sulphur. The logistical market of Qatar was improving, and supply chain disruption was slightly noticed, which caused shipment shortage and led to a scarcity of Sulphur to the importing nations. This scantiness resulted in a rise in the amount of Sulphur in the importing countries as well. The tight supply of Sulphur due to certain geopolitical tensions in the downstream sectors escalated the costs of the product in the region.

More sales have been generated by the Qatari Sulphur manufacturing companies like Qatar Fertiliser Company overall, and subsequently and their profits were increasing too. Investors of Qatar's major Sulphur manufacturing industries were optimistic and confident enough, indicating that their anticipated earnings are growing faster than they have historically.

An increase in demand for Bulk Chemicals and Fertilizers in Qatar lead to a shortage of products with the traders and merchants and depleting feedstock Crude Oil inventory. The manufacturers of Sulphur were procuring Crude Oil due to the rising consumption of the product. The demand for Sulphur based fertilizers, as well as Pulp & Paper production, escalated, which resulted in the de-escalation of the stocks of these finished goods as per told by the suppliers.