The lubricants market combines a wide spectrum of companies of all types, from material manufacturers of lubricant oils to dealers, importers or intracommunity purchasers of devices, equipment, vehicles or machinery that contain industrial oils. This covers all kinds of sectors of activity: the petroleum industry, energy operators, vehicle manufacturers, car repair chains, car accessory and replacement part companies, importers, e-commerce, machinery, commercial department stores and lubricant distributors.

This diversity means that the lubricants market is normally representative of the state of the economy in general. Over the past year, the Spanish economy grew by 2.5% according to data from the National Institute of Statistics. However, the SIGAUS lubricants market experienced a slight decrease of -0.4% compared to 2022, due to other factors such as inflation and military conflicts, which affected private consumption and industrial production, the two major components of demand for this product.

Adherence to SIGAUS

The volume of industrial oils adhered to SIGAUS fell by -0.4%, with the sale of 287,675 tons of industrial oil in the national market. The downward trend in the lubricants market was more pronounced in the first half of the year, with a decline in sales in all months up to June (with falls of more than 10% in April and May), and the only exception being March, when there was a positive upturn of 7%. In the second half of the year, the market began to show signs of recovery, with September and October experiencing the strongest growth of the year, with 8% and 15% respectively compared to the previous year. In the final stretch of 2023, the upward trend continued, albeit to a lesser extent, with slight rises of 1% and 2% in the last two months of the year.

Distribution per activity

By sectors, oil for the automotive sector was the most represented, with 57%, a total of 164,762 tons, although with a slight decrease of -0.2%. Forty-one percent was consumed by the industrial sector, 118,924 tons, also with a certain decrease of -0.6% with respect to 2022. In both cases, domestic production was the majority in relative weight over the total of the category (62% and 81%, respectively). Overall, domestically manufactured lubricants grew slightly by 1.8%, while imported lubricants fell by -5.2%. 

Lastly, 3,989 t of oils destined for other uses were marketed, such as oils for small tools, multipurpose aerosols, compressors or chain lubrication.