India’s imports of Group III 4cSt and 8cSt base oils rose to a seven-month in August even as the country’s total imports fell.The diverging trends coincided with signs of healthy surplus availability of Group III base oils and increasingly competitive prices for some of the supplies compared with Group II light grades. India’s imports of Group III 4cSt and 8cSt base oils combined rose to around 40,000 tonnes in August, provisional customs data showed.The volume rose for a twelfth straight month from year-earlier levels to the highest since January.Imports of 4cSt base oils came to more than 26,000 tonnes, or 65% of the total.The 4cSt share has held above 50% of the total increasingly frequently since the beginning of last year.The trend reflected a combination of rising demand for Group III 4cSt base oils, and increasingly competitive prices for some of the supplies.Imports got a boost in August from an unusual jump in shipments from Bahrain to more than 10,000 tonnes. India’s imports from the island-state are typically less than 1,000 tonnes/month.The price range for India’s 4cSt base oils imports also remained unusually wide.Prices for a large portion of the supplies were at less than $1,000/tonne on a delivered basis, the customs data showed. Prices for some of the supplies were at less than $900/tonne.The price levels narrowed sharply their differential to CFR India Group II N150 prices. These averaged close to $850/tonne in July and $835/tonne in August, ICIS data showed.A slowdown in India’s imports of Group II light grades in the three months to August also boosted the attraction of securing alternative light-grade supplies like Group III 4cSt base oils.The competitive prices for the alternative supplies added to their attraction.As a share of India’s Group II N150 and Group III 4cSt imports combined, the 4cSt volume accounted for 40% of the total in August.The share rose from less than 29% of the total in the first half of the year to the highest in at least three years..India’s August base oils imports fall.India’s August Group II imports mixed
