China’s sulphuric acid exports plunged more than 99% in June following a move to halt overseas shipments, leaving Chile and Indonesia, its two biggest buyers last year, without any cargoes, customs data showed on Monday.
Export volume fell 99.2% from May to just 980 tons from 116 703 tons in May, the data showed. China exported 784 362 tons of sulphuric acid in the first half.
The squeeze could pressure Chilean copper producers, which use acid to leach copper from ore, and Indonesian nickel plants relying on high-pressure acid leaching.
Indonesia accounted for 28% of China’s January–May exports, while Chile took 18.4%. Together, they received 46.4% of shipments before exports almost stopped in June.
China moved to halt exports from May to safeguard domestic fertilizer supplies after the Middle East war disrupted sulphur shipments. Some cargoes continued to clear customs, but the June figure suggests the restrictions have now largely choked off trade.
Chile and Indonesia were China’s largest buyers in 2025, taking 32% and 15%, respectively, of its 4.65-million tons of exports. Thailand was June’s largest destination with only 264 tons, followed by Vietnam with 223 tons.
The closing of the export outlet could also hurt China’s own copper smelters. Sulphuric acid is a byproduct of copper smelting, and higher acid revenue has cushioned margins as fees for processing copper concentrate fell below zero.
