China’s base oils imports rose in August, adding to a pick-up in domestic base oils output and extending a strong rebound in the country’s supply of the lubricant feedstock.Total imports of 130,200 tonnes in August rose from 89,500 tonnes in July and by 27% from year-earlier levels, government data showed.The volume was the highest for the month of August in four years, while the year-on-year increase was the first in seven months.The rise in shipments coincided with a pick-up in China’s base oils output to close to 430,000 tonnes in August.The country’s net supply, or output and net imports, duly rose to more than 550,000 tonnes in August.The volume rose from less than 495,000 tonnes in July and by 27% and for a seventeenth straight month from year-earlier levels.Supply of more than 1.0 million tonnes in July and August combined rose from less than 880,000 tonnes during the same two-month period last year and from less than 840,000 tonnes during the same period in 2022.It remained down 10% from more than 1.15 million tonnes during the same period in 2021, before the implementation of strict lockdown measures in China in 2022.The recovery in supply into the third quarter of the year left distributors and blenders facing growing surplus supplies at a time when they sought to manage their inventories carefully.Buyers’ replenished stocks also curbed their need for additional supplies in preparation for a seasonal pick-up in consumption at the end of the third quarter.But China’s base oils prices stayed increasingly firm relative to domestic diesel prices and to regional cargo prices so far during the third quarter of the year.The firm prices incentivized refiners to maintain higher base oils output levels and sustained the feasibility of lining up more arbitrage shipments to China from regional suppliers.The disconnect between rising supply and firm prices pointed either to the prospect of a sharper drop in demand, and subsequent pressure on prices, as buyers work through existing stocks. It alternatively suggested that demand was sufficiently firm to absorb the rising supplies..China’s Aug base oils output edges up.Taiwan’s Aug base oils exports stay high.S Korea’s August base oils exports rise
China’s base oils imports rose in August, adding to a pick-up in domestic base oils output and extending a strong rebound in the country’s supply of the lubricant feedstock.Total imports of 130,200 tonnes in August rose from 89,500 tonnes in July and by 27% from year-earlier levels, government data showed.The volume was the highest for the month of August in four years, while the year-on-year increase was the first in seven months.The rise in shipments coincided with a pick-up in China’s base oils output to close to 430,000 tonnes in August.The country’s net supply, or output and net imports, duly rose to more than 550,000 tonnes in August.The volume rose from less than 495,000 tonnes in July and by 27% and for a seventeenth straight month from year-earlier levels.Supply of more than 1.0 million tonnes in July and August combined rose from less than 880,000 tonnes during the same two-month period last year and from less than 840,000 tonnes during the same period in 2022.It remained down 10% from more than 1.15 million tonnes during the same period in 2021, before the implementation of strict lockdown measures in China in 2022.The recovery in supply into the third quarter of the year left distributors and blenders facing growing surplus supplies at a time when they sought to manage their inventories carefully.Buyers’ replenished stocks also curbed their need for additional supplies in preparation for a seasonal pick-up in consumption at the end of the third quarter.But China’s base oils prices stayed increasingly firm relative to domestic diesel prices and to regional cargo prices so far during the third quarter of the year.The firm prices incentivized refiners to maintain higher base oils output levels and sustained the feasibility of lining up more arbitrage shipments to China from regional suppliers.The disconnect between rising supply and firm prices pointed either to the prospect of a sharper drop in demand, and subsequent pressure on prices, as buyers work through existing stocks. It alternatively suggested that demand was sufficiently firm to absorb the rising supplies..China’s Aug base oils output edges up.Taiwan’s Aug base oils exports stay high.S Korea’s August base oils exports rise
