Taiwan’s base oils exports recovered in March after an unexpected dip in shipments the previous month.The rise in exports coincided with and helped to meet a seasonal pick-up in demand in southeast Asia and India at the end of the first quarter of the year.Exports showed signs of holding steady so far in April, at a time of year when lube demand in the region typically slows.The trend typically results in a build-up of surplus supplies at the start of the second quarter of the year.China's muted demand for additional shipments from the Asia-Pacific market added to the prospect of such a build-up.Taiwan’s total base oils exports of 42,300 tonnes in March rebounded from less than 24,000 tonnes the previous month.More than half the volume consisted of heavy-grade base oils.Taiwan’s exports dipped in February because of the unplanned shutdown of its sole Group II base oils unit in late January for several weeks.Exports of 18,700 tonnes to China in March lifted total shipments to the country to 64,500 tonnes in the first quarter of the year.The volume fell from 78,000 tonnes during the same period a year earlier to the lowest in at least a decade.Taiwan’s quarterly exports to China typically peak in the first three months of each year.China’s growing domestic base oils supply and cautious demand curbed its requirements from sources like Taiwan.More shipments instead continued to move to southeast Asia and to India.Base oils exports to those two markets in March exceeded the share of shipments bound for China for the fifth time in six months.Exports of more than 10,000 tonnes to southeast Asia in March rose from less than 4,000 tonnes the previous month. Most of the supplies consisted of heavy grades.Asia’s Group II heavy-grade prices rose strongly relative to light grades and relative to Group I heavy neutrals prices during the first quarter of the year in response to increasingly firm supply-demand fundamentals in the region..China’s March base oils output rises.India’s March lube demand mixed
