In April 2025, the liquid sulphur dioxide market in the European nations continued to showcase bullishness. This bullishness was witnessed due to the tight supply of liquid sulphur dioxide, high production costs, and the ongoing supply chain disruptions amid the low water levels in the Rhine River.

During this month, the liquid sulphur dioxide witnessed bullishness which was supported by a significant surge in the production cost of the commodity amid an incline of 22% in the feedstock sulphur market. Furthermore, the rising demand for liquid sulphur dioxide from the domestic as well as overseas downstream agrochemical sectors amid the supply tightening continued to push the market sentiments upwards.

On the production side, the supplies of the feedstock sulphur continued to witness challenges. The smelters were facing challenges in the production of liquid sulphur dioxide amid a lack of good-quality raw materials which continued to limit the output of the commodity.

Moreover, in the domestic market, the Grillo-Werke Frankfurt plant underwent an unplanned outage at the end of March which made producers declare a Force Majeure on the deliveries. This further added to the already tight market scenario in Germany. However, it came back online in mid-April but amid the strong demand and limited supply of liquid sulphur dioxide, this could not stabilize the market scenario. In addition, Boliden’s spring maintenance is planned for some of their plants in May and Nyrstar’s Budel is expected to undergo maintenance shutdown in June. These planned shutdowns are expected to further tighten the market sentiments.

Furthermore, providing support to the bullish market sentiments of liquid sulphur dioxide was the supply chain disruptions due to the low water levels in the Rhine River. Unusually low water levels and the surging demand for oil products have pushed the freight rates upwards along the Rhine River. This has created challenges for the barge transports as only 30% of their usual capacity was utilized amid the declined water levels. This has further shortened the barge availability. Hence, the shipping cost witnessed a surge amid the low barge availability and high demand for barges.

Hence, these factors combined and continued to uplift the market sentiments of Liquid Sulphur Dioxide. The ongoing peak plantation season has resulted in the rising demand for the commodity from the domestic downstream agrochemical sector. Thus, to showcase the current market scenario, the market participants increased their ex-quotations indicating the bullish market sentiments for Liquid Sulphur Dioxide in Germany.

As per ChemAnalyst, the Liquid Sulphur Dioxide market is expected to continue witnessing bullishness as the upcoming planned maintenance shutdown is anticipated to further tighten the market scenario. Furthermore, at the end of April, the water level in the Rhine River witnessed an improvement, however, it was not sufficient to smoothen the trading activities. Therefore, this supply chain disruption is further anticipated to push the market sentiments of Liquid Sulphur Dioxide upwards.