Grease Market
Grease Market – Since the withdrawal by the National Agency for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels – ANP of the product registration requirement for industrial oils and lubricating greases, the Brazilian market has been discussing the best way to deal with the new situation, seeking more and more information and knowledge to update producers and consumers in the direction of possible self-regulation.
Motivated by this need and meeting market expectations, Editora Onze promoted, on October 20 and 21, 2021, the 1st Meeting with the Grease Market, a virtual event that had the participation of great exponents of the segment, since the largest national producer of greases to the participation of the American entity NLGI and international consultancy, including developers of specific technology.
The opening of the event brought a vision of the Brazilian grease market, with numbers and participations, bringing a panel with the presence of the editor of Lubes em Foco magazine, Pedro Nelson Belmiro, and the well-known consultant Manoel Honorato, who discussed the impacts in the market of current legislation, the sector’s competition for raw materials, with fatty acids and lithium hydroxide, and what to expect in the near future.
It was shown in the panel that the grease market had a higher growth than the lubricating oil market, being one of the causes pointed out, the number of new participants registered in this market and, therefore, with their numbers entering the surveys.
The issue of releasing the numbers of the grease market by the ANP remains an old demand of the market, even if it is properly attended to. The National Agency for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels has data on the sale of lubricating greases, which could provide a more accurate guide to the market, but does not release these numbers.
The Brazilian grease market share is divided by the companies shown in the pie chart, with Iconic leading with more than a third of the market.
Manoel Honorato recalled that the grease market faces great competition for raw materials, with increasingly growing markets, such as lithium for electric car batteries and fatty acids from soy and palm, which are also used by the industry. biodiesel. In addition, the consultant also explained the difficulties and challenges that the market has been facing in the search for self-regulation and healthy competition.
Lubrizol brought in specialist Eider Santos to talk about the new specification for high-performance multipurpose greases, HPM launched by NLGI this year. Eider compared it to the current ASTM D4950 specification, which has major challenges ahead, such as technological advances in automotive materials and equipment, as well as poor repeatability and reproducibility. According to him, the idea behind the new specification is to increase relubrication intervals, improve resistance to high loads, greater efficiency at low temperatures and other improvements. The new specification also has 5 sub-categories, based on a group of specifications called Core and adding qualities such as water resistance, resistance to corrosion by saltwater, load carrying capacity, long life and good performance at low temperatures.
Click the image below to read the complete article in the digital version of “LUBES EM FOCO MAGAZINE – issue 83” :
