Japanese specialty lubricant manufacturer Moresco reported a 14% increase in sales revenue for its specialty lubricants segment and a 1% decrease in sales of synthetic lubricants for the nine-month period ended Nov. 30.
Factors boosting specialty lube sales included demand recovery, corrections in selling prices and depreciation of the yen.
The company’s fiscal year runs from March through February. Moresco’s combined specialty and lubricant sales of ¥12.5 billion accounted for 55% of the company’s sales to external customers for the nine months ending in November.
For the nine months ending in November, specialty lubricant sales reached ¥11.1 billion, improving from ¥9.7 billion. For the third fiscal quarter, such sales rose 21% to ¥4 billion.
Moresco said that in its specialty lubricants division in Japan, the recovery in demand for flame-retardant hydraulic fluids and an expansion in new sales of cutting fluids made up for the decline in die-casting fluids.
Sales of specialty lubricants in China increased due to corrections in selling prices, the company said, along with the depreciation of the yen.
Specialty lubricant sales in Southeast and South Asia increased compared to a year earlier due to a recovery in demand.
Although specialty lubricant sales volumes in North America decreased because of factors such as lower operating rates for Japanese automakers in Mexico, sales revenue increased due to price corrections and the weaking of the yen.
Nine-month revenue from synthetic oils totaled ¥1.4 billion, down slightly from ¥1.5 billion. For the third fiscal quarter, synthetic oils declined 21% to ¥390 million.
The company noted that in its synthetic lubricants segment in Japan, high-temperature lubricant sales volumes declined due to the impact of customer inventory adjustments.