Germany’s lube demand fell in June for a sixth month to levels that were lower even than in first-half 2020, when pandemic-related lockdowns slashed global economic and transport activity.The drop in demand weighed on Europe’s total lube consumption in June, curbing the region’s base oils requirements.Germany’s lube consumption of less than 36,000 tonnes in June fell by 33% from year-earlier levels and from more than 41,600 tonnes the previous month, government data showed.The outright volume was the lowest in at least nine years.The year-on-year contraction was the twentieth in twenty-one months.The size and persistence of the slump in lube demand was a byproduct of Germany’s weak economic activity and shrinking industrial production.The slowdown included a slide in Germany’s automobile production in six of the last seven months to June.Lower industrial and automobile output cut engine oils consumption, which slumped by more than 25% in first-half 2024.The contraction speeded up from a 3% fall in engine oil demand in 2023.Germany’s sliding lube consumption contrasted with a recovery in lube production, which rose in June for the fifth time in six months.Rising lube exports accounted for a growing portion of those supplies.Several key markets in Europe also faced weak or shrinking lube consumption this year. But the pace of the contraction was smaller than in Germany.With demand weak or shrinking, any rise in Germany's lube exports to markets in Europe would be in place of supplies from other sources.Germany’s rising lube production duly raised the prospect of supporting firmer domestic demand for feedstock base oils supplies despite the slump in the country's lube consumption.It also raised the prospect of curbing demand for feedstock base oils supplies in other markets in Europe, despite steadier lube consumption in those markets compared with Germany..Italy’s July lube demand rises
