Lubricant demand in Germany, including process oils, sank to 26,323 metric tons in August, easily the market’s worst performance in 2024 in terms both of raw numbers and year-to-year comparison.
August deliveries – included in the most recent data from the Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control – was 36% lower than August 2023 deliveries of 48,978 tons.
Monthly deliveries this year had ranged between 30,973 tons in May and 85,394 tons in March. The May numbers had also represented the largest year-to-year decrease so far this year – 32%.
Finished lube sales in the country this year were already running a bit behind last year, and the August results dropped this year further behind. Deliveries for the first eight months of this year totaled 354,251 tons, down from 390,677 tons last year – a slide of 9%.
Motor oils is the largest lubricant product category in Germany and experienced the largest proportional drop in August, as deliveries fell 65% to 6,108 tons. Other big decliners were machine oils, which fell 38% to 1,173 tons; automotive transmission fluids, down 23% to 1,927 tons; and technical white oils, down 24% to 1,207 tons.
The only gaining categories were grease and electrical insulating oils. Deliveries of the former jumped 40% to 568 tons, while the latter increased 4% to 1,210 tons.
Germany is one of Europe’s largest finished lubricant markets.