Majors are set to come under pressure from local producers, but overall market will continue to soar.
Pouring in the profits Image: Commons |
The latest report from Transparency Market Research (TMR) forcasts a four percent year-on-year increase in the global automotive lubes market to reach $79bn by the end of 2024.
The figure equates to sales of more than 32m tons of product over the next eight years.
Currently the market remains dominated by Shell, ExxonMobil and BP, with an estimated share of slightly more than 30% of the total market.
However, TMR believes regional producers and an increasingly fragmented range of products will put significant pressure on the majors and make the overall market increasingly competitive.
While the exponential rise in vehicle sales keeps the Asia Pacific region as leading market for lubes through to 2024, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America are also predicted to boost the lubes market.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, TMR comments: "With the increasing population, more vehicles are required to meet the transportation need of people across the world. Apart from this, the surge in consumers’ purchasing power is also reflecting on the sales of motor vehicles, which eventually, is leading to a substantial rise in the demand for automotive lubricants, globally".
The only challenge to growth may be the increasingly high price-point of fully or semi-synthetic lubes and the rise of the use of biofuels.