Tampa: Supply and demand for sulfur remained in balance last week, even as refineries were finishing their turnarounds for spring. As a possible indication of the end of the turnaround season, the U.S. DOE reported that refinery capacity operating rates increased 1.0 percent, up from 88.1 percent to 89.1 percent, which was an extremely high rate of production. However, much of the oil being refined was low-sulfur sweet crude, which provides less molten product.
Still, Mosaic, which already had high inventories of sulfur, was receiving requests to accept additional supplies.
Vancouver: The House of Commons on May 30 passed a back-to-work bill to end the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) strike by 4,800 members of the Teamsters Union, and the bill received Senate approval on May 31 (see front page story). CP was expected to have trains running again as early as June 1.
Benelux: The current price range was $210-$228/mt FOB.