Italy’s lube demand rose in June for the third time in four months, adding to signs that Europe’s sustained dip in lube consumption is bottoming out.Steady-to-firm lube consumption in the region, even if at lower levels than in recent years, would facilitate blenders’ procurement and stock-management plans.Europe’s base oils prices held firm relative to other markets in June, adding to signs of more balanced-to-tight supply-demand fundamentals throughout the region.Italy’s lube consumption of 34,000 tonnes in June rose by 5% from year-earlier levels and by 6% from May, government data showed..The last time that the country’s lube consumption rose in the month of June from May was in 2020.The performance of Italy’s lube consumption is a useful bellwether for the state of Europe’s lube market. Its growth rate has a strong correlation with the rest of the region, while its data is released several weeks before the rest of the region.Italy’s industrial oils consumption rose by 6% in June and at its fastest pace in sixteen months.The stronger industrial lube consumption mirrored a rise in Italy’s manufacturing confidence index in June to the highest in almost a year.The country’s manufacturing confidence extended its rise in July to a fourteen-month high.The improved manufacturing confidence raised the prospect of adding to a typical rise in Italy’s lube consumption in the month of July from June.The country’s lube demand then usually falls in the month of August from the previous month. The pace of the contraction is usually much steeper than the slowdown in consumption at the end of the year.The rebound in demand in September from August is also usually much sharper than the size of the recovery in consumption at the start of the new year.Blenders faced the prospect over the coming weeks of preparing sufficient feedstock and finished lube supplies to meet that seasonal rise in consumption in September..Netherlands’ May base oils output rises.Italy’s May lube demand falls.China’s June base oils demand falls.Brazil’s June lube demand extends fall.Europe’s May Group III base oils supply holds firm.Base Oil News stories and analyses also available on the ICIS platform
