Driven by increased sales of foreign branded cars and consumption of higher-quality lubricants, Russias demand for light-vehicle lubricants grew 1.6 percent in the first half of 2011, compared to 2010s second half, according to a Moscow-based consultancy.
The Russian passenger car lubes market amounted to 134 million liters in the first half of 2011, Auto-Marketing consultancy found. Of these 134 million liters, 56 million are finished lubes made in Russia and 78 million are imported finished lubes, Auto-Marketing concluded in its report, Motor Oils – Monitoring of the Russian Market: First Half of 2011. The consultancy published the report results in its Automobile Parts Market magazine.
The value of Russias light-vehicle lubes market grew about 9.1 percent in the first half of 2011, compared to 2010s second half, totaling 29 billion rubles (about $1 billion), according to Auto-Marketing. Factors driving the total value growth of the lubes sold included inflation and higher finished lubes prices that grew an average of 6 to 8 percent in the first half of 2011. To be more precise, foreign branded finished lube prices grew more than 15 percent in the first half of 2011, compared to the foreign branded finished lube prices in the second half of 2010, for products sold in Russia, the consultancy said.
In terms of market share, the study found that Lukoil retained its leading position on the Russian finished lubes market, holding nearly a 27 percent share for the first half of 2011. It was followed by ExxonMobil at 17 percent, Castrol with 8.7 percent and Shell at 8 percent.
In the first half of 2011, Rosneft and Delfin Group saw their automotive lube sales slump by 7.4 and 0.2 percent, respectively. Lukoil and TNK-BP have each posted less than a 1 percent sales increase, compared to 2010s second half. The finished lubes of ExxonMobil, Castrol, Shell, SK Energy and Liqui Moly have all seen growth in sales ranging from 1.3 percent to up to 4.3 percent during the first half of 2011, compared to 2010s second half. Showing strong growth was Total, whose lube sales in Russia grew 18 percent in the first half of 2011. Totals growth in Russia was driven by the higher sales of cars by foreign brands such as Renault, Nissan and Peugeot, which all buy their factory-fill lubricants from Total.
Some Russian finished lube producers experienced decreases in their shares of the domestic market primarily because of a slump in sales of domestic car brands, which resulted in smaller vehicle fleets. The vehicle fleets of the three leading domestic passenger car producers – Avtovaz , GAZ and AZLK – in the first half of 2011 decreased by almost 6 percent, while the vehicle fleets of the foreign branded cars in Russia rose 5.5 percent, compared to the second half of 2010, Auto-Marketing said, adding that it is the reason why the sales of the imported automotive lubes fared successfully in Russia in 2011, while some domestic producers have seen a slump in their finished lubes sales.
The consultancy also looked at the lubricants market within Moscow. Auto-Marketing found that in the first half of 2011, Shells mineral oils returned to its leading position in Moscows automotive mineral lubricants market, followed by TNK-BPs and Lukoils mineral oils, which were the leading mineral oil suppliers in Moscow in 2010. In 2011s first half, Shells finished mineral lubes held 18 percent of the Moscow automotive lubricants market. TNK-BP held 15.7 percent of the market, followed by Lukoil with 12.5 percent.
In the semi-synthetic finished lubricants category within Moscows market, the leader was Liqui Moly with 11.4 percent share, followed by Lukoil at 11.1 percent and Delfin Groups Luxe brand at 7.6 percent.
Castrol topped the synthetic lubes category in the Moscow market with a 12.8 percent share for the first half of 2011, Auto-Marketing stated, followed by ExxonMobil at 11.8 percent and Shell at 11.3 percent.