Independent lubricants blender Fuchs Petrolub SE announced on July 5 that based on preliminary figures, it anticipated a 1 percent decline in sales to 1.3 billion (U.S. $1.5 billion) for the first six months of 2019 and earnings before interest and tax over that period close to 20 percent below the previous year. The reason for this is the continued global market weakness, particularly in June, the Mannheim, Germany-based company stated.