Volume 8 Issue 44

Pear Grower Plans to Buy Tongyi

A fruit grower in China’s Xinjiang province announced this month that it has reached a tentative agreement to acquire Tongyi Petroleum Chemical Co., one of the largest private lubricant producers based in the country. Korla said it will pay cash for the purchase and that the final price will be calculated after due diligence, but the companies estimated Tongyi’s value at ¥1.4 billion (U.S. $223 million) when the agreement was announced Oct. 12.

Profits Up for SK, S-Oil, Hi-Tech

S-Oil reported much higher operating income for its base oil business, SK Lubricants posted a large jump in operating profit, and Pakistan-based blender Hi-Tech Lubricants Ltd. reported higher consolidated net profit for the quarter ending Sept. 30.

Japan Lube Demand Rebounds

Japan consumed 140,064 kiloliters of finished lubricants in September, according to data released by a government agency. The volume was an increase from the same month in 2020 and a sharp rebound from August. The September volume was up 28% from 109,012 kL in the same month of 2020 and a 103% jump from 68,909 kL in August, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry reported today.

From Other Editions of Lube Report

Trucking Crisis Drags on Industry

Profits Down for Afton, Sales up for HCC

Turkey’s Lube Demand Stalled in 2020

Briefly Noted

Koehler Instrument Co., Innovation Technology Consulting and the University of Chile have published a white paper, “Performance Characterization of Automotive Lubricant Used in Electrical Vehicles and Hybrid Electrical Vehicles,” which summarizes state-of-the art and future trends in electrification and the required lubricants for advanced hybrid and electric vehicles. The white paper may be downloaded at Lubes’n’Greases’ Electric Vehicles InSite via this link.