India’s base oils imports rose to an eleven-month high in April, coinciding with and cushioning the impact of plant maintenance work in the country and the region.Imports of around 370,000 tonnes in April rose from more than 350,000 tonnes in March, provisional customs data showed..The volume rose for the third time in four months from year-earlier levels to the highest since May 2024.The rise in imports coincided with a seasonal slowdown in India’s lube consumption in April at the start of the new financial year.The dynamic raised the prospect of a pick-up in supply outpacing demand even with the round of plant maintenance work.India’s increasingly firm Group II base oils prices relative to FOB Asia cargo prices in the second quarter of the year instead pointed to sustained buying interest in additional supplies.The buying interest coincided with lower crude oil prices that cut the incentive for buyers to seek to build larger stocks.Demand for additional volumes could instead point to concern about tighter supplies caused by overlapping plant maintenance in India, the Middle East, South Korea and the US during the second quarter of the year.The pick-up in base oils imports in March and April already raised the prospect of cushioning the impact of any such dip in supplies from those sources.The rise in imports in April included a surge in shipments from South Korea to the highest level in more than three years.Imports rose even as plant maintenance in South Korea cut its output and exports in March.Base oils imports from the US climbed to the highest since January and second-highest level since mid-2023.The high shipment volumes left total imports from the US in the first four months of this year far outpacing year-earlier levels.Imports were higher even with US base oils export prices holding at firmer levels in the first quarter of this year compared with the same time last year.The rise in India's base oils imports from the US pointed to a persistent surplus to clear from the country even with those firmer export prices.
