Germany’s demand for finished lubricants fell 21% in April, the second straight month with a decrease of 20% or more, according to data released by a government agency.
Lube sales in the country totaled 42,149 metric tons in April, with the steepest declines occuring in a variety of industrial categories, including metalworking fluids, hydraulic oils and machine oils, the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control reported on July 19.
Among metalworking oils category segments, sales for non-water-miscible oils by 48% to 796 tons, for water-miscible oils by 45% to 783 tons and for anti-corrosion oils by 35% to 152 tons.
Hydraulic oil consumption fell 50% to 4,104 tons.
Motor oils, the category with the highest sales volume, decreased 4% to 15,372 tons. Consumption of transmission fluid declined 13% to 3,214 tons, while demand for industrial gear oils also decreased by 13%, to 1,466 tons.
Greases demand fell 24% to 1,835 tons.
Car gear oils were flat at 2,663 tons.
Among categories bucking the downward trend were turbine oils, transformer oils and compressor oils. Turbine oils experienced a 38% surge in demand to 245 tons, and transformer fluids reached 1,172 tons, a 25% jump. Compressor oils posted a 3% increase in consumption to 1,025 tons.