Russia Decree No. 350 — Sulphur Export Ban Extended to 30 June 2026

Mechanism

Russia's Government Resolution No. 350, signed 31 March 2026, extended the previously enacted export prohibition on liquid, granulated, and lump sulphur (HS 2503) through 30 June 2026. The original ban dated to Resolution No. 1470 of 28 October 2025 (entered force 1 November 2025) and was motivated by a domestic shortage of sulphur as a critical feedstock for phosphate fertiliser production — primarily diammonium phosphate (DAP) and monoammonium phosphate (MAP) — ahead of Russia's spring agricultural season.

The ban covers the three principal traded forms of elemental sulphur:

• Liquid sulphur — the predominant form moved in heated tank cars from

oil-refinery recovery units; Russia's major refiners (Rosneft, Lukoil, Gazprom Neft) produce approximately 5–8 Mt per year as a byproduct.

• Granulated sulphur (prilled or pastille) — the export-grade product

processed at sulphur-forming units adjacent to refineries.

• Lump sulphur — lower-grade recovered from refinery desulphurisation

without granulation; some volumes are shifted to a licensing track under the concurrent GTA state-act 97135 instrument rather than the full ban.

Exemptions apply to supplies to Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) members (Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan), as well as to Russian-occupied Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Global supply context

Russia is among the three largest sulphur exporters globally, alongside Canada and Kazakhstan. Russian sulphur historically flows to:

• Morocco / OCP Group — the world's largest phosphate-rock miner and

a top-three phosphate fertiliser exporter; imports Russian sulphur for sulphuric-acid production at Jorf Lasfar.

• Tunisia / GCT — phosphate fertiliser producers on the Mediterranean.
• Australia — for nickel/cobalt leaching and phosphate applications.
• East Africa — smaller volumes to Tanzania, Kenya for local fertiliser

blending.

With Russia's ban active through at least June 2026 and Turkey's Ministry of Trade issuing a simultaneous circular (April 6–7, 2026) prohibiting sulphur exports through Q3 2026, the two bans together compress Mediterranean and East African import availability during the global spring/summer sulphuric-acid demand peak.

Downstream implications

• Phosphate fertiliser costs — Higher sulphur input costs tighten margins

for DAP/MAP producers in Morocco (OCP), India, and Australia who are not integrated back to sulphur production; may pass through to DAP spot prices.

• Copper/nickel leaching — Sulphuric acid is consumed in heap-leach and

tank-leach operations for copper (DRC, Zambia, Chile) and nickel/cobalt (Australia, Philippines). A tighter sulphur market raises acid costs, compressing margins at non-integrated operations.

• Compounding effect with Zambia sulphuric-acid export controls — Zambia's

SI 17/2026 (see 2026-03-27-zambia-si-17-2026-sulphuric-acid-export-permit) restricts sulphuric-acid exports to DRC copper and cobalt operations; the Russia sulphur ban reduces replacement acid-manufacturing capacity by curtailing global sulphur supply.

Open questions

• Whether Russia will allow the ban to lapse after 30 June 2026 or issue

a fourth extension — the prior three cycles (Nov 25 → Dec 25 → Mar 26 → Jun 26) suggest a rolling-extension pattern tied to domestic fertiliser- season logic.

• Whether Tupras (Turkey) resumes regular Mediterranean spot tenders after

Turkey's simultaneous ban expires Q3 2026.

• The extent to which the GTA state-act 97135 licensing track (certain lower

grades) is absorbing export demand that would otherwise be blocked by the full outright ban.