The UK’s base oils imports fell back to more typical levels in July and by a much smaller volume than the slump in the country’s exports.
Total imports of 28,200t in July fell from more than 38,000t in each of the previous two months, government data showed.
The May and June volumes were well above more typical levels of around 29,000 t/month in the year to April. The July volume was closer to that level.
Imports fell because of a slump in shipments from Belgium to a six-month low and an even steeper fall in supplies from the Netherlands to a nineteen-month low.
Imports from the US surged to a fifteen-month high of close to 4,000t, cushioning the fall in supply.
Imports from the UAE also extended their strong rise this year.
Total supplies of more than 4,600t from the Mideast Gulf country in the first seven months of the year rose from less than 500t during the same period last year.
An unusual and record-high flow of shipments from China also extended into July.
Imports of more than 1,100t from China in the five months to July contrasted with almost no such supplies from the country before March.
