agri

Sulphur

Most sulphur is recovered from fossil-fuel processing, so production may not sit in the country that holds the hydrocarbon reserves.

Country panel

Import reliance: 14%2025 — USGS MCS 2026, 2025
Official critical list: No2025 — Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals, 2025
Top import partners: No dataPartner shares are published for the United States in USGS MCS 2026; other viewers are No data in v1.

Global totals

Production: 84,000 kt2025 — USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026, 2025
Reserves: No dataUSGS does not publish a country reserve table. Sulphur in oil, gas and sulphide ores is described as large.
Reserve life: No dataUSGS does not publish a country reserve table. Sulphur in oil, gas and sulphide ores is described as large.

Concentration

China 22.7%
United States 9.7%
Russia 8.9%

Production share

China22.7%
United States9.7%
Russia8.9%
Saudi Arabia8.6%
United Arab Emirates7.5%
Other countries6.8%
Canada6.0%
Kazakhstan5.7%
India4.4%
South Korea3.7%
Qatar3.7%
Japan3.2%
Iran2.5%
Chile1.7%
Kuwait1.6%
Poland1.3%
Australia1.1%
Turkmenistan1.0%

Colour scale is colour-blind-safe sand to rust. Grey means no listed figure. “Other countries” is not drawn. On small screens the map is a ranked list.

Top producers

Share of listed production versus share of listed reserves.

Table alternative to the bar chart
Country	Production	Reserves
China	22.7%	0%
United States	9.7%	0%
Russia	8.9%	0%
Saudi Arabia	8.6%	0%
United Arab Emirates	7.5%	0%
Other countries	6.8%	0%
Canada	6%	0%
Kazakhstan	5.7%	0%
India	4.4%	0%
South Korea	3.7%	0%

Uses

Sulphuric acid for phosphate fertiliser processing (leading use). 2025
Petroleum refining and chemicals. 2025
High-pressure acid leach for nickel battery materials, a growing demand source. 2025

Recycling

Typically 2.5–5 million tons of spent sulphuric acid is reclaimed from US petroleum refining and chemical plants.

Substitution

Substitutes at present or anticipated prices are not satisfactory.