India’s imports of Group II light-grade base oils fell to a one-year low in August, contrasting with a rise in shipments of heavy-grade base oils.The disconnect left blenders with increasingly tight supplies of light grades and more plentiful stocks of heavy grades.The dynamic raised the prospect of boosting buyers’ requirements for more light-grade supplies ahead of a seasonal rise in lube demand after the monsoon season.India’s total imports of Group II light grades fell to less than 40,000 tonnes in August, provisional customs data showed..The volume was the lowest since the third quarter of last year, when a major Group II base oils unit in South Korea was taken offline for scheduled maintenance work.There was no such scheduled maintenance work this time round.Shipments of light grades from South Korea still fell to the lowest since March, when another Group II unit in the country was undergoing maintenance work..The drop in shipments followed a fall in Asia’s Group II light-grade price-premium to gasoil to a five-month low in June 2025. Margins remained low in July.The low margins incentivized refiners to trim output and produce more heavy grades or diesel instead.The price for some shipments to India are typically set one month, with the cargoes then loaded the next month, before being delivered the following month.That scheduling, combined with lower margins in June and any subsequent adjustments in supply, would impact shipments reaching India in the month of August.The drop in light-grade shipments in August contrasted with a rise in imports of Group II heavy-grade base oils to the second-highest level in more than four years.India’s base oils prices reflected those diverging supply dynamics.The premium of CFR India Group II N500 over Group II N150 peaked in June at the highest in more than three years before falling sharply.It bottomed out earlier this month at the lowest since last October.Firmer Asia light-grade base oils margins in August and September, and the recent start-up of new production capacity in southeast Asia, raised the prospect of a pick-up in supplies over the coming months..India’s August base oils imports fall.South Korea’s July base oils output rises.S Korea's Aug base oils exports to India rise.Base Oil News stories and analysis also available on ICIS platform
