China shipped 2.85 million tonnes of ammonium sulfate in September 2026. The volume is the story

China exported 2.85 million tonnes of ammonium sulfate in September 2026, worth $547 million. Both figures are records for the year so far and both are well ahead of September 2025, which came in at 2.25 million tonnes and $379 million. Headline growth was 26.4% on volume and 44.2% on value. The nine-month total, though, grew 6.9%, which means almost every additional tonne China shipped this year was shipped in September.

The numbers

Figures come from our own market information on China’s ammonium sulfate export trade. The series was updated 23 October 2026 and covers September 2026 and January to September 2026. Prior-year figures and per-tonne values are derived arithmetically from the published growth rates rather than separately published.

The 2.85 Mt month

The January to September monthly average was 1.80 million tonnes, and September ran at 1.58 times that, accounting for 17.6% of the whole nine-month volume on its own. The year as a whole comes out flatter than the headline suggests. January to August 2026 came to 13.34 million tonnes against 12.89 million tonnes in the same months of 2025, growth of 3.5%, in a year when Chinese ammonium sulfate has been widely described as tight and sold out. Tightness and flat volume were both real and were happening at once: for eight months the market cleared roughly what it cleared the year before, and then September added 600,000 tonnes year on year in a single month.

Two readings fit that shape and the data does not choose between them. Overseas demand may have arrived late and hard, with Brazilian buyers building position ahead of the second-crop application window in September instead of over the summer, and Indian tenders landing in the same window. Or it may be shipment timing, since cargoes booked in July and August but rolled for space, documentation or allocation count in the month they clear customs rather than the month they were sold, and one strong month after eight flat ones is the classic footprint of that.

For a buyer the difference is not academic. If demand pulled the tonnage forward, Q4 has less left to ship; if timing pushed it back, Q4 has more. Neither shows up in the annual figure, and anyone telling you which one it was with confidence is guessing.

The price signal

Value rose 44.2% against volume growth of 26.4%, and that gap is the price effect. Per tonne, September 2026 was worth about $192 against about $168 a year earlier, up 14%. The nine-month line reads differently: value per tonne went from about $154 to about $201, up 31%, so September’s 14% is less than half the year’s pace.

September also sat below the year to date, not above it. Running the same subtraction on January to August gives 13.34 million tonnes for $2.705 billion, or about $203 per tonne, which leaves September at $192 roughly 7% softer than the eight months before it. That is a sequence rather than a contradiction. Through September the Chinese domestic benchmark was in a six-week slide and the export price drifted down with it, with the exporter’s margin doing the work of holding fob up, not demand, and September’s average sits at the bottom of that slide.

Direction has changed since. Standard caprolactam-grade was assessed at $215-220/t fob China on 21 October, up $5 at the low end week on week, with the domestic ex-works price finally flat rather than falling. Our 23 October market report covers that move. Read as a price signal, the customs release is a rear-view mirror with a one-month lag, and it lags in the middle of a turn.

Customs unit values

A customs unit value is total declared value divided by total declared weight, and in enquiries it gets misused. It blends every grade, from standard caprolactam by-product to compacted granular and off-spec MMA material; every form, crystalline and granular, which carry a $5-10/t spread fob China; every delivery term, FOB and CFR and CIF, so ocean freight sits inside some cargoes and not others; and every destination, from a Brazilian main port to a landlocked delivery. The result is a smooth, low, slow-moving number that describes the trade as a whole.

It is a good way to read a trend and a bad way to price a parcel. A quote belongs to a cargo; a unit value is an average of everything that moved in the month. If you need a number for your own cargo, get an offer against your destination port, grade and volume.

Destination breakdown

Brazil remains the largest single destination for Chinese ammonium sulfate, and has been for years. The Brazilian programme is mostly compacted granular for direct application and bulk blending, which is why the compacted premium over crystalline survives in that market even when the Chinese offer book is thin. India led Asia in September at 286,700 tonnes, Lithuania led Europe at 64,000 tonnes, New Zealand led Oceania at 49,710 tonnes and Egypt led Africa at 43,000 tonnes.

The country detail needs a caution. The figure most widely repeated for Brazil in September in secondary reporting is 1.32 million tonnes, which would be 46% of the month’s entire national exports and reconciles neither with a 2.85 million tonne month nor with any recent quarterly pattern. It is almost certainly a cumulative January to September number presented as a monthly one, and we have not used it here. The ranking is the reliable part; individual country figures are worth checking against the customs database before you rely on them.

Buying in Q4

September’s volume tells you the tonnage exists and moved. It does not tell you that any of it is available for your window. In a market where producers report being sold out forward, ask about allocation before price, because the supplier who can confirm a loading date is worth more than the one quoting $5 under the market with nothing behind the number.

Expect the Q4 comparison to look weak. September 2025 was itself a strong month, and Q4 2026 volumes depend on allocation release and on whether the October price recovery holds. A softer Q4 headline would tell you the September surge was timing, not a new level of demand.

Form should match the market you are selling into. Brazil takes compacted, Southeast Asia and Australasia take crystalline for blending, and Europe is short of standard specifically, not of ammonium sulfate generally. Buy crystalline at a discount to compacted for a market that needs granules and the saving disappears once your own handling is counted.

What to watch

The base case is straightforward. Chinese ammonium sulfate is not short of capacity, it is short of approved tonnage at any given moment, and September showed how fast that tonnage can move when it is released. The risk worth pricing is timing rather than scarcity.

Sourcing from China

The grades discussed here — standard, compacted granular and crystalline — cover the main forms in which ammonium sulfate leaves China, with Qingdao and Tianjin the usual loading ports. Inspection and documentation requirements have changed more than once this year, so buyers planning a shipment window should confirm which grades and documents currently apply before fixing a load plan.

• Ammonium Sulfate — grade range and typical specifications
• Granular Ammonium Sulfate — direct application and bulk blending
• Crystalline Ammonium Sulfate — compound fertilizer and industrial use
• Importing ammonium sulfate from China — documents, inspection and shipping

Tell us the grade and destination you are working with and we will share the specification and documentation details relevant to that route.

Export volumes and values are drawn from our own market information, updated 23 October 2026, covering September 2026 and January to September 2026. Prior-year comparisons and per-tonne values are arithmetic derivations from the published growth rates, not separately published data. The $215-220/t fob reference for 21 October 2026 is an indicative market assessment, not an offer. This article was published on 26 October 2026 and describes the market as at that date; ammonium sulfate prices move with grade, production source, packaging, parcel size, destination and freight, and are confirmed per enquiry and in the sales contract.