US PPI for base stocks holds steady in Q4 at its lowest level since 2021
PPI for finished lubricants holds in narrow range in Q4 and throughout 2025
Price gap between base stocks and finished lubricants widens slightly in 2025 but at slower pace than in recent years
The US producer price index (PPI) for lubricating oil base stocks broadly held steady in the fourth quarter of 2025, remaining at its lowest level since 2021.
The trend closely mirrored movements in US Group II base oils prices.
The US PPI for finished lubricants also held in a narrow range at the end of 2025, extending a pattern of limited price movements seen throughout the year, US Bureau of Labor Statistics showed.
The gap between the PPI for finished lubricants and base stocks duly edged slightly wider over the course of the year.
The pace of the increase was slower than in 2024 and much more muted than the sharp rise in seen in 2022 and 2023.
The dynamic pointed to a stabilisation of the pricing relationship between base stocks and finished lubricants, even if at much higher levels than before 2021.