Weekly Lubricant Report: Lubricant Market under the Crude Fluctuations

Over the past week, by the publication of US Non-Farm Payrolls report with the increase of employment in July, and the increase in the salary level for the private sector in the United States, the optimism that the United States can overcome the current conditions has increased, and thus with the changes in dollar, the price of oil reached below 92 dollars and rejected the fragile barrier of 92 dollars at some times.

With this trend, it seems unlikely that oil will be able to return to above 100 dollars again in the near future, and this decrease in the price of oil provided the conditions for the decrease in other products as well.

On the other hand, the decrease in exports from the Persian Gulf caused the cost of sea transportation to decrease as a result. And, the expensiveness of the raw materials of the goods has caused a lot of pressure on the producers to produce their goods.

The same situation is also true regarding recycled base oil. It means expensive raw materials and demand for commodities at cheaper prices in the market. In the current situation, considering that the possibility of the overall reduction of petrochemicals on August 15th in India is very serious and probable, Indian importers are not very willing to import at the current prices and this has caused more pressure on producers.

All these cases, taking into account the conditions of Iran’s negotiations in the JCPOA and the deadline that the parties have set for each other in the last time, have progressed the situation in such a way that the entire Persian Gulf region is in a critical and undecided situation.

Currently, recycled base oil FOB Bandar Abbas is valued at around $890-900, caustic soda flake is around $620-650, paraffin wax is valued at around $1250-1300 FOB Bandar Abbas.

As mentioned in previous weeks’ reports, it is suggested that in case of request for any type of commodities, the general conditions of the market, crude oil and fundamental fluctuations should be checked first, and then the decision to buy should be made. Also, in the current situation, it is not recommended to make heavy investments in the aforementioned.

This article was prepared by Mozhdeh Darbandizadeh, the account manager of Infinity Galaxy (www.infinitygalaxy.org).