Volume 5 Issue 36

SSY Base Oil Shipping Report

Adrian Brown is away. His column will reappear in the Sept. 12 edition of Lube Report Americas.

India May Challenge Chinese Wax Suppliers

China continues to dominate the global wax market, but Indian suppliers are increasing sales domestically and abroad and could provide competition to Chinese companies in coming years, an industry insider said at a conference last month.

Fighting Counterfeits with QR Codes

A major Chinese supplier of lubricant packaging equipment has established a subsidiary to help clients use QR codes to battle counterfeiting. The step by Tom Packaging Machinery reflects the scale of the problem in Chinas lube industry.

Japanese Demand Forecast to Slow

The Petroleum Association of Japan forecast that the countrys lubricant demand growth will slow to an annual rate of 0.7 percent this year to reach 1.3 billion metric tons. Demand grew 1.2 percent in 2017.

From Other Editions of Lube Report

Briefly Noted

Australia and Indonesia recently signed a free trade deal, titled the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, which will remove tariffs on petroleum lubricants between the two countries, among other products. Total and China Communications Construction Co. signed a mutual preferred supplier agreement to extend their existing relationship to a worldwide perimeter. Total currently supplies the Chinese company with fuels and lubricants, mainly in Africa.