India’s imports of Group III 4cSt base oils rose to a three-month high in April partly because of the addition of supplies from China and Russia.Imports of Group III 8cSt supplies fell to an eight-month low.Total imports of Group III 4cSt base oils rose to more than 18,000 tonnes in April, provisional customs data showed.The volume rose from less than 12,500 tonnes in March and for an eighth month from year-earlier levels.The supplies included shipments from China for the first time on record. An increasingly regular flow of relatively small volumes of Group III base oils of Russian origin also continued to move to India since the start of the year.The price of the supplies from China and Russia was at a steep discount to prices for Group III shipments from other more regular sources like South Korea and Middle East.The price was also at competitive levels compared with imported supplies of Group II light-grade base oils.Any repeat of those shipments over the coming months could complicate demand and pricing for India-bound cargoes of Group II and Group III base oils, especially for spot shipments.It could also add additional pressure to a global Group III base oils market that was already struggling with oversupply in the face of weaker demand in US and Europe.The pressure could increase further in the coming months following the scheduled startup of a new Group III base oils unit in India at the start of the third quarter of the year.India’s imports of Group III 8cSt base oils came to around 10,000 tonnes in April, down from close to 14,000 tonnes the previous month.Imports fell even with prices slipping to a discount to prices for Group II heavy-grade base oils.Prices for 8cSt base oils that were similar to or at a discount to Group II heavy grades previously triggered firmer demand for the Group III product as an alternative to the Group II supplies.That dynamic failed to repeat itself this time.India’s imports of Group II heavy grades instead rose in April to the highest in more than three years..India’s April Grp II base oil imports rise.India’s April base oils imports rise.India’s April lube demand mixed
