Lubricant sales soar in March, in Brazil

Brazilian Lubricant sales

Brazilian Lubricant sales – The Brazilian Lubricants Market showed a significant increase in March compared to February (38.2%), reaching a sales volume close to the historic record obtained in March 2021. Automotive oils were the highlights, and the dispute between Iconic and Vibra is further intensified by market leadership.

With a sales volume of 144,446 m3, the month of March 2022 was only 0.2% below the historic record of March last year and 38.2% above February this year, resuming the good level of performance shown in 2021, after weak movement in January and some improvement in February.

Automotive oils were the sales highlight with diesel engine oils up over 52% and Otto cycle oils over 48%, over February, following the growth of the auto industry which rose 11.2% in March. The total of the 1st quarter is still below 2021, but with signs of recovery.

Other segments also had a good recovery, such as Gears and Circulatory Systems and Transmissions and Hydraulic Systems, which increased by 34% and 28%, respectively.

Iconic took the lead, with a 17.6% market share, against 17.1% for Vibra, which had taken the lead in the first two months of the year. Moove (Cosan/ExMo) with 14.3%, Shell with 11.2% and Petronas with 8.4% complete the Top 5 in the market.

Following the leaders, we find YPF (1.8%), Enegis8 (1.8%), Lwart (1.6%), Quaker (1.6%) and Teclub (1.5%).

Base Oils

Regarding base oils, Brazil imported around 123,500 m3 in the first quarter of this year, a volume lower than last year, which had reached record levels. Until March this year, imports accounted for 36.4% of the Brazilian market for base oils.

The re-refining industry also performed very well, placing around 73,156 m3 of base oils on the market, which represents 21.5% of Brazilian needs, while the Reduc and Lubnor refineries, the only producers of base oils currently, slightly reduced volumes compared to the same period last year, however with the lower total volume of the basics market, it contributed with 42.1% total.