Taiwan’s base oils exports held firm in October, extending a trend of unusually high shipment volumes throughout the year.

The high volumes partially cushioned the tighter availability of supply in Asia during the first half of the year.

The firm export volumes then added to the recovery in regional supply during the second half of the year.

A pick-up in Taiwan's shipments to more distant markets like the Middle East pointed to ongoing signs of moves to diversify the number of outlets for its supplies.

It also pointed to a pick-up in surplus supply in Asia at a time of year when demand faced a seasonal slowdown during the winter months.

Taiwan’s base oils exports of more than 48,000 tonnes in October were almost the same as the previous month, government data showed.

Exports held close to or above that level throughout most of the year, lifting total shipments to more than 470,000 tonnes in the first ten months of the year.

The ten-month volume was the highest since 2019.

Most of the shipments moved to southeast Asia and India.

A growing volume also moved to other outlets like the Middle East and Pakistan.

Exports of more than 13,000 tonnes combined to those two outlets in October were the highest in eleven months.

They also exceeded the volume of shipments to China for the first time in more than three years.

China was previously one of the largest outlets for Taiwan’s base oils exports.