Japanese specialty lubricant manufacturer Moresco Corp. reported lower sales of specialty lubricants and synthetic oils for its 2020-2021 fiscal year, which ended in February. The company cited the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on automobile production and lubricant consumption.
Sales of specialty lubricants declined 16% to ¥10.6 billion (U.S. $98.1 million) for the fiscal year ended Feb. 28, down from ¥12.5 billion for the fiscal year that ended in February 2020.
Each of Moresco’s specialty lubricant types experienced a decline. Sales of die casting mold releasing lubricants declined 18% to ¥3.3 billion, sales of cutting oils decreased 11% to ¥1.9 billion, hydraulic oil sales fell 24% to ¥1.3 billion, vacuum pump oil sales slid 13% to ¥652 million and sales of forging oils fell 21% to ¥620 million. Sales of other types of specialty lubricants declined 11% to ¥2.7 billion.
Sales of its specialty lubricants remained strong in China, the company said. In Southeast Asia, revenues dropped significantly due to a decrease in automobile production.
The company said that revenue from synthetic oils declined 12% to ¥1.9 billion for the fiscal year, which Moresco attributed primarily to a decrease in automobile production in Japan and abroad.
Sales of high-temperature lubricating oils dropped 16% to ¥960 million, and sales of hard disk surface lubricants – used in computer hard drives – decreased 5%. The company noted that data center investment is slow at the moment and that the ongoing replacement of magnetic hard disk drives with solid state drives has impacted hard disk surface lubricant sales.