China is the world's biggest importer of sulphur, the biggest producer of phosphate fertilizer, and dependent on imports for more than half its potash. That is the market Zhongrong is built to reach.
Figures are the most recent full-year or year-to-date published data. They are quoted to show market size, not to price any transaction.
Sources: China Customs and Longzhong (sulphur, potash, urea); National Bureau of Statistics and Guosen/Guotai research (phosphate fertilizer, phosphate rock); USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025 (fluorspar, world P2O5 consumption). Figures are indicative and may be revised by the original publishers.
China smelts and burns more sulphur than it produces. Imports of roughly ten million tonnes a year feed sulphuric acid, and through acid, phosphate fertilizer. Supply comes from the Middle East, Canada, Central Asia and Poland — the routes where a desk with producer relationships matters most.
China produces about 17.6 Mt P2O5 of phosphate fertilizer a year and consumes more than 100 Mt of phosphate rock. Exports run under a quota system, which makes timing and allocation part of the trade, not an afterthought.
Domestic output covers less than half of demand. Imports hit a record 12.6 Mt of KCl in 2024, largely from Canada, Russia, Belarus and Laos. Import price, not domestic cost, sets the domestic price — a rare case where the buyer's market is price-taking.
World output is about 9.5 Mt and China is the largest single producer, but safety inspections and mining rectification keep supply tight. That makes verified, compliant supply more valuable than cheap supply.
It is a counterparty problem. The difficult part is finding the end-user who will actually take the cargo, at a price that survives inspection, quota and payment terms.
We place volume with plants and compounders that consume it, not with a chain of intermediaries each taking a margin.
Irrevocable DLC under UCP 600 with a bank whose rating and agency relationship we have checked before the contract.
SGS or CCIC before title transfers — and a certificate the buyer's own lab can confirm.
Export quotas, environmental rules and dual-control energy policy move the window. We track them for the chains we trade.