Tyler Jark, a member of the NLGI Board of Directors, gave an overview of the survey results at the Institutes annual meeting in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, United States. He said there was a 3.4 percent increase in reported worldwide production for 2013 compared to 2012, to 2.59 billion pounds. This is 85.8 million pounds above the 2.50 billion pounds reported in the 2012 survey.

On a comparative basis, North America and Southeast Asia reported lower production volumes in 2013, continued Jark, who is with Lubricating Specialties Co. in Pico Rivera, Calif. Europe, Africa, the Middle East and China showed significant increases, while Japan, the Caribbean, Central and South America, and India and the Indian Subcontinent were essentially unchanged.

Chinas production totaled 992 million pounds for the year, 6.6 percent more than the 931 million pounds that its producers reported for 2012. China holds a 38 percent share of global grease production, while North America and Europe combined amount to about 36 percent, Jark said. India ranks fourth, the survey shows, with 191 million pounds made in 22 grease plants in 2013. Rounding out the top five is Japan, with 18 facilities that produced a total 172 million pounds last year.

NLGIs annual survey is the only one to gauge lubricating grease production worldwide. All told, Jark said, 222 companies provided data this year on the output from 250 grease plants. In all, they reported making 2.59 billion pounds [1.18 million metric tons] in calendar year 2013.

Jark emphasized that all data is submitted voluntarily, and the group of respondents who elect to participate in each annual survey can vary. So the year-to-year results are not directly comparable.

There are about 30 pages of data in the full report, so its very detailed, he explained. Grease production is sorted by zone, thickener type, year and (since 2010) base oil type. Three prior years of data are included, along with the 2013 data.

The full report does include comparative data for those companies who respond every year — and on a global basis, these producers showed a 1.3 percent uptick in grease production volumes.

The survey showed that conventional mineral oil base stock dominates, going into almost 93 percent of reported production. Another 6.6 percent of output is based on synthetic and semi-synthetic base fluids, and a scant 0.6 percent contains biobased fluids.

Lithium and lithium complex soaps remain the worlds favorite type of thickeners, by far. Together, they account for 77 percent of all grease made, NGLIs survey shows.

Second favorite, at 10 percent of the global supply, is calcium grease. These include four types, Jark observed, hydrated, anhydrous, calcium sulfonate and calcium complex versions. Hydrated calcium is the worlds oldest metal soap thickener, leaving some attendees to marvel at how it manages to persist in the marketplace despite competition from more modern types.

Third place goes to polyurea greases, which account for a little shy of 6 percent of total global production, Jark said. He added that these greases saw a large gain in 2013 versus the prior year, but declined to speculate on the reason behind this growth. All respondents report their production in confidence to the independent firm Grease Technology Solutions in Manassas, Va., U.S., which then analyzes and compiles the data. Most companies participate in the survey consistently each year, according to Chuck Coe of Grease Technology Solutions. As well, some typically take the opportunity to update or finalize their prior years data. Caution must be used when trying to compare this survey to earlier surveys, Coe advises, as there are significant revisions to production numbers reported earlier for the years 2010 to 2012.

Copies of the 2013 NLGI Grease Production Survey are provided free to NLGI member companies and to survey participants. Others can purchase it online at www.nlgi.org.