The smell of sulphur is often a warning. Since the 1930s, a compound of the yellow element has been added to otherwise odourless natural gas to ensure that leaks are easily detectable. In today’s commodity markets, it’s the price of sulphur that is flashing a warning, indicating that the US war on Iran is producing far-reaching effects.
Sulphur is both abundant and essential. Most of the world’s production goes into making sulphuric acid, which is in turn used to create phosphate fertilisers. It also features in the manufacture of lithium batteries, nylon and microchips. In terms of supply, more than 90 per cent of the stuff is extracted from oil and gas, in the process of making those dirty fuels somewhat less so. Roughly one-third originates in the Middle East.
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz, separating a large share of the world’s oil and gas from its consumers, is therefore a problem. More so, in fact, for sulphur than for oil, a fifth of which passes through the Strait. Even before the closure, curbs on Russian exports had pushed up prices. The cost for buyers in Africa, where miners also use sulphur to leach metal from ores, is up nearly 20 per cent this month, according to Platts.