South Korea’s base oils exports rose to an eleven-month high in September, adding to a pick-up in shipments from key suppliers in the Asia-Pacific region.The rise in shipments from Asia helped to cover a seasonal pick-up in demand in markets like China and India from the end of the third quarter.Any extension of the rise in regional exports through the fourth quarter of the year would coincide with a typical slowdown in demand at year-end.Such a scenario raised the prospect of a pick-up in shipments targeting more distant markets beyond the region.South Korea’s base oils exports rose to 386,000 tonnes in September, government data showed..The volume rose from less than 332,000 tonnes the previous month to the highest since last October.The pick-up in exports followed a rise in South Korea’s base oils output to a three-year high in August.The higher export volumes also pointed to the completion of stock-replenishment in South Korea earlier in the third quarter following a heavy round of plant-maintenance in the first half of the year.Higher base oils output and the lack of any scheduled plant-maintenance work over the coming months raised the prospect of exports holding at those higher levels..The rise in shipments lifted total exports from South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore combined to more than 590,000 tonnes in September.The three suppliers usually account for more than 85% of Asia’s total base oils exports.The September volume was up from less than 545,000 tonnes during each of the previous two months and close to the highest in more than a year.Any extension of export volumes holding at more elevated levels would require demand staying higher for longer to absorb the supplies.A more immediate repercussion of the higher volumes could be to curb Asia’s requirements for additional supplies from other sources like the US.A wide gap between US base oils export prices and CFR India prices since early this year helped to sustain a steady flow of arbitrage shipments from the US to India in recent months.Any slowdown in those shipments and any pick-up in surplus US supplies would require a diversion of those shipments to other markets or an adjustment in prices to keep the arbitrage open..S Korea's August base oils output rises.Taiwan Sept base oils exports stay high.S Korea’s August base oils exports fall
