Asia-Pacific base oils supply fell in April from the previous month amid a drop in output from producers throughout the region.But the volume was still the second highest in the past nine months.Base oils supply of around 949,000t in April fell by 6pc from 1.01mn t the previous month. The volume was still up 27pc from less than 750,000t the same time a year earlier and well above typical levels of less than 900,000 t/month over the past year.The volume is derived from seven key suppliers in the Asia-Pacific region, excluding China and Indonesia..The drop in supply from March reflected the impact of planned maintenance and unexpected production issues in markets like South Korea and Taiwan. The drop in Japan’s base oils output in April was from unusually high levels the previous month.The region’s base oils supply often falls around the end of the first quarter and start of the second quarter of the year because of scheduled plant maintenance work. The fall in supplies this year repeated that trend.Even with the drop in output, the region’s supplies remained unusually high.The high volume reflected the relatively light round of maintenance work in the region this year. The dearth of plant maintenance work in Japan was especially unusual.The high volume also reflected the limited impact of any refinery run cuts or moves to redirect feedstock to diesel production in response to weak base oil margins.The high volumes have also coincided with usually weak Chinese base oil imports so far this year. The effect has been to free up even more supplies to move to other markets.Those other markets have welcomed the availability of the surplus Asia-Pacific volumes to cover for the tight supply within their own regions. .Asia’s March base oils supply rises
