Turkey’s Aug Grp I base oils imports fall

Turkey’s Group I base oils imports fell to a 10-month low in August as weak demand and sliding prices prompted buyers to hold back.

Supplies from the Mediterranean market fell to their lowest in more than a decade.

Base oils imports of 19,440t in August fell from 25,380t the previous month and by 23pc from year-earlier levels, government data showed.

Even with the slowdown, total shipments of 199,310t in the first eight months of the year were up 14pc from 174,110t during the same period last year.

This year's rise in Group I imports helped to cushion the impact of lower supply from the country’s sole base oils plant.

The trend left total Group I supply of more than 235,000t in the first seven months of the year down only slightly from just over 240,000t during the same period last year.

The drop in shipments in August coincided with falling European base oils prices and rising surplus supplies in overseas markets.

The trend curbed buyers’ urgency to lock in more supplies at a time when increasingly high inflation increased the cost of holding large stocks.

Easing supply tightness also gave buyers more choice over the source of those supplies.

They were increasingly covering more of their requirements with base oils of Russian origin.

The supplies benefited from their relative proximity and a competitive price compared with cargoes from Europe.

Those attractions sustained Russia as the largest source of Turkey’s base oils imports in August for a third straight month.

The rise in flows from Russia contrasted with a slump in shipments from more regular suppliers in the Mediterranean market. The region is usually the largest source of Turkey’s imports.

Turkey’s imports of less than 3,600t in August from Greece, Italy and Spain combined was down from more typical levels of more than 17,000 t/month over the past year and the lowest in more than 11 years.