Sulfuric Acid

U.S. Gulf:

Price ideas on spot vessels imported to the U.S. Gulf continued to be floated at $220-$225/mt CFR, unchanged from one week earlier.

Gulf Coast:

In the U.S. delivered markets, sulacid tons delivered to Gulf Coast locations were contracted at $85-$110/st DEL for 2021 delivery.

Midwest:

The Midwest sulfuric acid mark ran even with the Gulf Coast for 2021 agreements, at $85-$110/st DEL.

West Coast:

Sources reported West Coast tons in the $100-$130/st DEL range for annual contracts.

Brazil:

Alcoa Corp. and South32 Ltd. are moving forward with a planned restart of the company’s Alumar aluminum smelting complex, Bloomberg reported. The 447,000 mt/y facility has been fully shut down since 2015.

Restarting potlines will require 3-6 months, pushing the plant’s first likely outputs into first-half 2022. An ongoing drought in the northeast of Brazil will potentially limit hydroelectric availability to the smelter. Alumar’s long-term power goals include moving toward 100 percent use of renewable energy sources by 2024.

Recent sulfuric acid import pricing at Brazil was noted in the $245-$250/mt CFR range, unmoved from the prior report.