The Sulphur Institute’s (TSI) Sulphur World Symposium 2011 April 11-14 drew a record attendance in New York City for the annual event. TSI said some 258 delegates from 33 countries were in attendance.
TSI also used the event to launch a new educational program Sulphur – an advantaged element, to increase awareness of sulfur’s role in daily life and sustainability.
“Sulfur is essential for protein formation in crops, and thus, absolutely critical to improving the nutrition and health of many in the world who go to sleep hungry each night,” said Catherine Randazzo, TSI president and CEO. “TSI’s agricultural programs have focused on China and India, documenting production level increases of 10 percent or more with the addition of this relatively low-cost input-an economical benefit to the entire agricultural value chain.” For more information, see www.sulphurinstitute.org.
TSI also noted the benefits of sulfur as construction material, such as concrete and asphalt. Paul Kalb, division head, Brookhaven National Laboratory, which is at the forefront of this research, spoke to the group and took them for a tour of Brookhaven.
Kicking off the conference was Robert Wescott, president, Keybridge Research LLC, who gave the global economic outlook. He noted that the U.S. has been in recovery since July 2009, with business doing well, but the consumer still trying to get back on his feet.
Wescott sees three reasons for optimism in the U.S. He said the job situation is improving and he sees good job growth in the spring and summer. He said a weak dollar has improved exports. And he says business has $2 trillion in cash to hire people and for capital spending.
In Europe, the recovery is a mixed bag, with the best results in Germany, France, and The Netherlands, and the worst in Greece, Portugal, Ireland, and Spain.
Wescott said Latin America is booming, and the global financial crisis was only a small bump in the road for Brazil.
Data from China is mixed, he said. While construction has started to boom again, exports are off to Europe, the U.S., and the rest of Asia.
While Japan will undoubtedly rebuild after the recent earthquake and tsunami, he said those events had a devastating impact on that country’s GDP, wiping out 5 percent. Although conditions will start to improve, he noted that long term there will be lower consumption due to lost wealth.
From his own observations, Wescott said he does not believe that the turmoil in much of the Arab world will spread to Saudi Arabia.
Wescott is concerned about inflation, saying that it is going up; it is not just higher commodity prices. In addition, he said there needs to be a restoration of normal credit rates. He said the Fed needs to start raising interest rates.
Stephen Kopits, managing director, Douglas-Westwood Ltd., gave a global energy outlook. Fearing tight oil supplies, he said a recession could return between now and 2013. However, on the natural gas side, he said the impact of shale gas could be even larger globally than it has been in the U.S. where gas production is up 15 percent since 2005. He said shale gas is displacing many conventional producers.
Robert Bertram, director of agriculture, research, and technology, U.S. Agency for International Development, talked about food security and the precarious situation the world is in today with low grain stocks and the possibility that weather conditions could worsen the situation.
Fiona Boyd, market analyst with ICIS/PentaSul, said there is a tight world sulfur balance, with an estimated 51.9 million mt of production in 2010, and consumption at 52.2 million mt. This could go on for some time, as she says there is not expected to be any significant sulfur surplus until 2020.
Terry Roberts, president, International Plant Nutrition Institute, citing extensive soil s