India has staved off a potential food crisis by importing enough urea and liquefied natural gas to enable domestic production of this high-nitrogen fertiliser.
There is another critical commodity, sulphur, whose soaring prices – again, linked to the escalating West Asia and Russia-Ukraine conflicts – is impacting the availability of di-ammonium phosphate (DAP), single super phosphate (SSP) and other major complex fertilisers.
Since the start of this year, landed (cost plus ocean freight) prices of sulphur imported into India have doubled to $1,050-1,100 per tonne. The main reason: Ukrainian long-range drone and missile attacks on Russian oil refineries and gas complexes and Iran, likewise, targeting the energy infrastructure of Saudi Aramco, QatarEnergy and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.
Only a tenth of the world’s sulphur output is directly mined. The rest comes as a byproduct of petroleum oil refining (56%) and natural gas processing (34%). Environmental rules mandate desulphurisation – removal of sulphur from crude oil and raw gas – for the production of clean, low-emission fuels.
This recovered sulphur is, however, essential for agriculture. The fertiliser sector alone accounts for roughly 60% of the 70 million tonnes (mt) annual global sulphur consumption. Most of the world’s sulphur gets converted into sulphuric acid that is, in turn, a core chemical for manufacturing all fertilisers containing phosphorous (P).
“The primary source of P is rock phosphate. But this mined ore cannot be used as fertiliser unless broken down into a water-soluble form (for plants to absorb) by reacting with sulphuric acid. Without sulphur and sulphuric acid, there can be no DAP, SSP or popular complex fertilisers such as 20:20:0:13, 10:26:26 and 12:32:16,” explained an industry official.
From byproduct to scarce commodity
India’s own yearly sulphur consumption is 3.8-3.9 mt, with the fertiliser industry’s share at 2-2.1 mt. As a byproduct of the oil and gas industry, sulphur was previously imported at prices well below $200 per tonne – even sub-$100 in many months of 2019 and 2020. Being a flammable material, sulphur cannot be stored for too long.
“There are storage and disposal challenges also in sulphuric acid, which is a byproduct of copper and zinc smelting. In 2020, we were importing it from non-ferrous metal smelters in Japan and South Korea at even minus $20 per tonne (free-on-board price at the port of origin),” the official said.
That changed with the Russia-Ukraine war. Import prices of sulphur rose to $400-500 per tonne during March-June 2022. It was temporary though, as prices reverted to the earlier sub-$200 levels from late-2022 through early 2025.
The real problems started with a substantial increase in Ukraine’s targeted strikes on Russian oil refineries from around August 2025. By December, landed prices had crossed $500 per tonne and have only gone higher post the US-Iran war (see chart). Iran has done to the oil and gas infrastructure of its Persian Gulf neighbours what Ukraine has to that of Russia.
“Today, we have a crisis, with import prices of sulphur and sulphuric acid at about $1,070 and at $330-350 per tonne respectively. They even hit $1,150 and $420 two months back,” the fertiliser industry official pointed out.
The EV batteries link
The global supply squeeze from geopolitical tensions – Russia has banned exports of sulphur and sulphuric acid to safeguard its own fertiliser production, while China has done the same with the latter – isn’t the only reason for the spike in prices.
The last few years have also witnessed a surge in sulphuric acid demand for extracting nickel from laterite ores and processing it into mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP), a material used for electric vehicle batteries. Nickel-related demand for sulphuric acid has shot up from 3.5 mt in 2021 to 16 mt in 2025, much of it from Indonesia, which has the world’s largest nickel reserves and so-called high-pressure acid leaching plants to turn the ore into MHP.
“Both demand (Indonesia) and supply (wars) side factors are working against us,” the industry official added. Indian fertiliser companies source sulphur from domestic oil refineries and sulphuric acid from the smelting complexes of Hindustan Zinc Ltd and Birla Copper in Rajasthan and Gujarat. But the bulk of their requirements is imported.
The likes of Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (Iffco), Coromandel International and Paradeep Phosphates Ltd have integrated fertiliser manufacturing facilities that import sulphur and rock phosphate. Sulphur is converted into sulphuric acid, which is reacted with rock phosphate to produce SSP or phosphoric acid. Phosphoric acid is further used for making DAP and other high P-containing complex fertilisers.
One tonne of sulphur yields some three tonnes of sulphuric acid through an exothermic reaction that releases heat, which can be captured and used by boilers to generate high-pressure steam for power. Also, 2.6-2.8 tonnes of sulphuric acid is needed to produce one tonne of phosphoric acid.
India has a domestic phosphoric acid manufacturing capacity of around 2.2 mt, meeting half of its requirement of 4.3-4.5 mt for supporting 15-16 mt production of phosphatic fertilisers.
“Iffco, Coromandel and Paradeep Phosphates have secured their supplies of rock phosphate through joint ventures or strategic tie-ups in Jordan, Senegal and Morocco. But rock phosphate cannot be used for making fertiliser without sulphur,” the official noted.
The industry is, for now, counting on an end to the wars – and also subdued fertiliser demand from El Niño – for some easing of global prices.
India’s own yearly sulphur consumption is 3.8-3.9 mt, with the fertiliser industry’s share at 2-2.1 mt. (File image) 
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