Exports rise to one-month high in four weeks to 19 November
Exports stay lower than usual
Exports rise to China, SE Asia, fall to India to two-month low
Singapore’s base oils exports extended their recovery over the past month after a slowdown in flows in early-November.
Total exports rose to more than 160,000 tonnes in the four weeks to 19 November, government data showed.
The volume rose from less than 125,000 tonnes in early-November to the highest level in more than a month.
Exports remained below typical volumes of more than 170,000 tonnes/month over the past year even after the start-up of new production capacity in Singapore at the end of the third quarter.
Steady-to-lower flows, even with the surge in production capacity, suggested that the new unit or existing units were operating well below maximum levels.
An extension of the trend would help to limit the size of an expected build-up of surplus base oils supplies in Asia during the winter months, when demand typically slows.
Base oils exports to southeast Asia extended their recovery to more typical levels and the highest since first-half October.
Exports to China remained higher than usual.
Exports to India extended their fall to the lowest in two months.
Exports fell even as the planned shutdown of a key base oils unit in Saudi Arabia over the coming weeks raised expectations of a pick-up in India’s demand for supplies from alternative markets like Singapore.