Base oil imports to China fell 26% in November, compared to the same month of 2023, as this year’s incoming shipments continued running well behind last year.
Suppliers in South Korea, Singapore and Qatar all saw their business with China take significant hits, year to year.
China accepted base oil shipments totaling 103,511 metric tons in November, down from 140,174 tons 12 months earlier. The declared value of those shipments was even steeper, dropping from U.S. $154 million to $99 million. Base oil prices have dropped since this time last year, so exporters to China took a double hit.
Through the first 11 months of this year, the country imported 1.4 million tons, down from 1.6 million tons during the same period last year.
China is one of the world’s two largest finished lubricant markets – along with the United States – and one of the largest base oil importers. The amount of base oils it imports has been dropping, however, due to a surge in construction of domestic capacity, along with lackluster economic performance this year.
South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan have long been the largest suppliers of base oils to China, and Qatar – home to a gas-to-liquids Shell-Qatar Petroleum joint venture that makes Group III+ oils – has moved up recently to join the leaders. South Korea was once again the largest country of origin, with shipments totaling 34,910 tons in November, but that was down from 52,472 tons in the same month of 2023. Singapore’s shipments dropped from 41,775 tons to 20,218 tons, while those from Qatar fell from 28,779 tons to 13,692 tons.
Taiwan, which had an aberration of nil shipments to China in November of 2023 rebounded to a more normal level of 14,252 tons.