The New Lubricant Trade in ASEAN - A Promising New Era
Global lubricant markets have seen a dramatic rebound since the global economic recession of 2008-2009. At that time, global demand dipped to its lowest point since the latter half of the 20th century, but has since surpasses its previous high mark set in 2007. One of the key drivers of this rebound can be attributed to Asia, where the developing economies of emerging markets are fueling the rising demand for lubricants.
Global lubricant markets have seen a dramatic rebound since the global economic recession of 2008-2009. At that time, global demand dipped to its lowest point since the latter half of the 20th century, but has since surpassed its previous high mark set in 2007. One of the key drivers of this rebound can be attributed to Asia, where the developing economies of emerging markets are fueling the rising demand for lubricants.
The shift to Asia is not a surprising phenomenon as businesses and manufacturers become increasingly globalised in order to seek out better value-cost and, at the same time, compete to fulfill rapidly emerging gaps in the Asian market. Asian demand picked up the slack, increasing from 30%-35% to 40%-45% within the same time period and currently overshadowing both Europe and North America combined. Asia's share of the global lubricant market now translates to an annual consumption of 19-23 billion litres, and considering that this amount is worth an estimated USD 60-80 billion, it pays to understand what drives Asian markets in search of the next opportunity.
