Japan’s June base oils/lube demand holds firm

Japan’s base oils and lube demand stayed relatively firm in June amid signs that a recovery in lube consumption was starting to extend to industrial oils.

Base oils consumption of 153,800 kilolitres (136,240t) in June fell by 14pc from year-earlier levels, when demand was much higher than usual for the month of June.

Consumption still rose by 6pc from the previous month to the second-highest level for the month of June in more than a decade, government data showed.

Consumption of 856,570kl in the first half of the year was down just 0.6pc from 861,320kl during the same period last year.

Demand got a boost in first-half 2022 from the gradual removal of pandemic-related restrictions.

Japan's lubricants demand of 161,270kl in May rose by 2pc from a year earlier and for the first time in eight months.

The 10pc rise in consumption of passenger-car engine oils was the fastest growth rate in two years.

The 1pc fall in demand for heavy-duty engine oils was the smallest contraction in fourteen months.

Industrial oils consumption extended its fall, but at the slowest pace in nine months.