Argentina’s lube demand fell in August for a tenth month and at a faster pace than the country’s lube production.The trend raised the prospect of triggering a build-up of lubricants stocks and prolonging a slowdown in base oils demand.The trend could conversely also reflect initial signs of a recovery in consumption, especially of industrial lubricants.Argentina's total lube consumption of around 19,000 cubic meters (17,000 tonnes) in August fell by 15% from year-earlier levels, government data showed.The pace of the contraction was the steepest in four months.The fall in lube demand also outpaced a 7% drop in the country’s lube production.The smaller drop in lube production partly reflected blenders’ response to firmer demand for industrial oils and increasingly tight supplies of those lubricants.Argentina’s industrial lube consumption fell by 2% in August.The contraction was the smallest this year and contrasted with a 14% drop in industrial oils consumption in the first seven months of the year.The smaller contraction mirrored a drop in Argentina’s industrial production in July that was the smallest in eight months. Argentina’s industrial lube production fell more steeply by 20% in the first seven months of the year.The sharper contraction in output triggered a slump in Argentina’s industrial lube inventories to their lowest in more than two years.Stocks remained unusually low even with a smaller 2.5% drop in industrial oils output in August.The more muted drop in industrial oils consumption and tight supplies of the lubricants contrasted with a 20% fall in demand for automobile oils and healthy stocks of those lubricants.The diverging signals raised uncertainty about whether the improvement in industrial oils demand pointed to signs of a bottoming out of the country’s lube consumption.That uncertainty in turn complicated production plans for blenders.Either way, any further recovery in Argentina’s demand for industrial oils would magnify pressure on the country’s low stocks of the lubricants and prompt blenders to respond in kind..Brazil’s August lube demand holds firm.Latin America’s July lube demand rises
