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The economic rollercoaster ride of the past three years has generated a debate on the nature of lubricant demand and its growth in context of economic growth. Does lubricant demand growth track GDP growth rate? Can we define a relation between GDP growth and lubricant growth? Has the lubricant market grown at all in the last 10 to 15 years?
Historically, the U.S. East Coast (Atlantic region), led by New York, dominated trading activities with other nations.
This certainly had an impact on the local economy in terms of growth in related industries such as shipping, trucking, railroad, and other such industries which resulted in the growth of marine engine oils, railroad engine oils, and HDMOs.
We may now see a shift in trade on a similar scale, with the U.S. Gulf Coast, led by Houston, New Orleans, and other ports in the region being the beneficiaries. A potential game changer, as announced by the Wall Street Journal, is the $5.25 billion widening of the Panama Canal scheduled to be completed in 2014. (Read more…)
Kline’s study finds that overall, global lubricant demand increased by an estimated 6% over 2009, but still trails pre-recession levels.
According to Kline, estimated global finished lubricant consumption in 2010 was 34.6 million tones, with additive consumption accounting for 3.7 million tons valued at $10.3 billion. Within lubricant additives, dispersants, viscosity index-improving agents (VII) and detergents were the top three function classes accounting for 68% of total consumption. Other function classes analyzed include corrosion inhibitors,
The dominant trend in the lubricant basestocks industry has been the decline in supply of Group I basestocks due to technical obsolescence as well as over-supply of higher performance Group II and Group III basestocks. Group I basestocks can no longer be used to blend high-performance and mid-tier passenger car motor oils (PCMO) and heavy
While overall global demand for finished lubricants has declined more than 4,000 kilotonnes over the past two years, synthetics and synthetic blends have gained more market share during this time
Overall lubricant consumption in India was valued at approximately USD 2,762 million in 2009. Of this, industrial oils and fluids make up just over half of total consumption. Commercial automotive lubricants are the second most demanded category, followed by consumer automotive lubricants which make up the smallest part of the market, accounting for only 10%
Global lubricant demand has seen some recovery in 2010 after registering a significant decline of 8.4% in 2009 over the previous year.
Changes in lubricant refining technology have led to a decline in the supply for petroleum wax, which has traditionally dominated the global wax industry. As petroleum waxes fall behind, new formulations have emerged to compete for the vacated market space. Global wax supply in 2010 is estimated at
Besides Asia, Africa and the Middle East were the only regions which did not stop growing during the recession. Although their economic growth rates did slow down by 2009, they have since started to pick up again. Despite the fact that AME will not see growth rates commensurate to those of the rapidly expanding markets
