Thailand’s lube demand unusually fell in March, at a time of year when it usually peaks.Lube consumption of 41,900 kilolitres (37,100 tonnes) in March fell by 4% from year-earlier levels and by 11% from the previous month, government data showed.PTT Oil and Retail was Thailand’s largest lube supplier in March for the second time in three months. Shell Company of Thailand was the second largest.The year-on-year contraction in Thailand’s lube demand was the first in four months. The fall in consumption in the month of March from the previous month was the first in more than a decade..Lube consumption usually sees a strong seasonal boost in the month of March.The unusual contraction instead added to signs of Thailand’s slowing economic growth even ahead of the implementation then temporary pause in US tariffs in early April.Economic activity slowed in March as a dip in private consumption and tourism-related activities outweighed firm industrial production.The country’s lube demand reflected that dynamic.Engine oils demand, which is more of a bellwether for services and tourism-related activity, fell by 9% from year-earlier levels.Consumption of other lubricants by contrast continued to rise in March.Thailand’s weaker domestic lube and base oils consumption curbed blenders’ urgency to replenish stocks and freed up more base oils supplies for overseas markets.The country’s base oils exports duly rose to a four-month high in March, with most of the shipments moving to Singapore, as well as to China.The dynamic mirrored a similar trend in Japan, whose domestic demand fell and exports also rose in March.Any extension of that trend to other markets in the region and into the second quarter of the year would cushion the impact of plant maintenance work.It could also magnify the impact of a seasonal slowdown in consumption at the end of the second quarter of the year. .India’s April lube demand falls .China’s March base oils demand rises.Singapore’s March base oils exports rise
