Turkey’s base oils imports from Russia rose in May to their highest in more than eight years, while shipments from Europe fell to a six-month low.The diverging trends left supplies from Russia and Europe accounting for an increasingly similar share of Turkey’s total imports.The dynamic was likely to continue in the face of persistently tight Group I base oils supply in Europe and high prices for its shipments.The trend contrasted with more plentiful supplies from Russia, limited outlets for the shipments and their increasingly steep discount to prices of European origin.Turkey’s total base oils imports of 59,000 tonnes in May was similar to the previous two months, government data showed.Supplies from Russia rose for a sixth month in May from year-earlier levels and accounted for 32% of the total May volume. The share was up from a 25% share the previous month.Shipments from Europe fell for a fourth month from year-earlier levels and accounted for 37% of the May volume. The share was down from more than 50% of the total in April.The diverging trends reflected the impact of prices and availability of supply.The average price of imported Group I base oils shipments of Greek origin rose to around $1,060/tonne in May, up from less than $930/tonne the previous month.Prices for supplies of Russian origin also rose, but much less sharply.The average price of imported Group I base oils of Russian origin climbed to more than $870/tonne in May, from around $830/tonne the previous month.The price gap between supplies of Greek and Russian origin duly surged to a seventeen-month high of more than $180/tonne.The dynamic incentivized buyers to maximize their procurement of supplies of Russian origin..Italy’s May base oils output falls.UK’s April base oils supply stays high
