“Although worldwide grease production has continued to recover from the COVID impact in 2020, poorer participation for 2022 resulted in an overall decline in reported production,” Chuck Coe wrote in the cover letter to the survey report. Coe is president of Grease Technology Solutions LLC, the independent research and consulting firm that conducts the survey on behalf of NLGI.

Worldwide, greases produced with conventional lithium soap thickener constituted 63% of the global grease production total, down from 69% in 2021. Production of grease made with lithium complex soap thickeners decreased to 19%, down from 20%.

Calcium soap grease production worldwide made up 21% of output, falling from 16%. The portion of grease produced with aluminum soap thickeners increased to 4%, from 3%, while the share of polyurea rose to 7%, from 6% in 2021.

The 40 North American grease plants that participated in the survey produced 388.9 million pounds of grease last year, or 40% of the global total of 2.5 billion pounds.

Greases produced with conventional lithium soap thickener accounted for 21% of North American output in 2022, unchanged from 2021. Grease made with lithium complex soap thickeners constituted 45% of the region’s grease production in 2022, up slightly from 44% in 2021.

Calcium soap grease production comprised 13% of the region’s production last year, down from 14%. The portion manufactured with aluminum soap thickeners decreased from 10% to 9% last year, while the portion of polyurea rose to 5%, from 4%.

In the Caribbean, Central and South America, 15 grease plants participating in the survey produced 97.8 million pounds of grease in 2022, accounting for 4% of global production. Comparative data for the region was not available.

Greases made with conventional lithium soap thickener comprised 73% of the region’s grease production last year, while lithium complex soap thickeners accounted for a 10% share and calcium soap thickeners were used in 14%. Sodium soap thickeners were used in 1%, and aluminum soaps in less than 1%.

The survey included grease production data by base oil type.

In the worldwide comparative data, among 2.2 million pounds of grease for which base fluid was reported, 87% used conventional base fluid, 8% used synthetic, 3% were semi-synthetic and 1% was biobased fluid last year.

From comparative data, among the 347.5 million pounds of grease in North America for which base fluid was reported, 79% were conventional, 13% were synthetic, 6% were semi-synthetic and 2% were biobased fluids.

In the Caribbean, Central and South America, among the region’s 97.8 million pounds of grease reported by base oil type, 99.8% used conventional base fluids. Only 0.2% were semi-synthetic, and less than 0.1% were synthetic base fluid. No participants in the region reported using biobased fluids last year.