Industrial Lubricants Market Size, Share, Industry, Forecast and outlook (2024-2031)

Industrial Lubricants Market is segmented By Product (Hydraulic Fluid, Metalworking Fluid, Gear Oil, Compressor Oil, Grease, Turbine Oil, Others), By Base (Mineral Oil, Synthetic Oil, Bio-Based Oil, Others), By End-User (Construction, Metal & Mining, Cement Production, Power Generation, Automotive, Chemical, Oil & Gas, Textile, Others), and By Region (North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa) – Share, Size, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 2023 - 2030

Industrial Lubricants Market Overview

Report on Global Industrial lubricants by DataM Intelligence estimates the market to grow at a CAGR of 4% during the forecast period 2023 - 2030. 

Industrial lubricants are oils, fluids, greases, and other chemicals used in industries to reduce friction, binding, wear or exclude moisture. Though the main job of industrial lubricants is to use a fluid film to displace solid surfaces, they're also utilized to change the surface qualities, regulate the temperature and clean up debris. The optimum lubricant decreases friction and minimizes solid-to-solid contact, which would otherwise obstruct movement and cause wear. Apart from the traditional role of industrial lubricants, they are also employed as heat transfer agents, corrosion preventative agents, sealing agents, and means of trapping and expelling impurities in mechanical systems.

While oils and greases are popular liquid and semisolid lubricants, they are also available in other forms, such as dry lubricants and gas lubricants like air. Specifying lubricants for mechanical systems must consider not only the need to reduce friction and wear but also the need for them to perform some or all of these secondary functions.

Industrial Lubricants Market Scope

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Industrial Lubricants Market Trends

The growing desire to ensure energy and process efficiency to industrial processes and increasing energy price act as major drivers for the global industrial lubricants market. However, the negative impact of petroleum-based industrial lubricants on the environment tends to restrict the market growth of the respective market.

Increasing energy prices and desire to increase the overall efficiency of industrial machinery

With the rising energy price used to run industrial activities and an increasing desire to improve the efficiency of industrial processes, the industrial sector is taking the necessary steps to save energy and lower total operating costs. Since engine parts that aren't lubricated are more prone to friction, which means they use more fuel, resulting in pollution and emissions. Industrial manufacturers are under pressure to reduce their environmental effects while also lowering their operational expenses. Maintenance departments are concentrating their efforts on lowering maintenance costs by increasing the efficiency and dependability of machinery.

A good-grade industrial lubricant is critical in all the operations above since it reduces friction between parts while enhancing machine efficiency. Additionally, due to the greater energy cost, even a little reduction in energy consumption can result in large financial savings. The potential for energy savings varies depending on the type of machine used and it is possible to raise the company's overall earnings by significantly improving the lubrication. As a result, the desire to reduce energy consumption and improve the overall efficiency of industrial processes tends to boost the market demand for the global industrial lubricants market.

Growing environmental awareness and stringent environmental laws

Industrial lubricant is regarded as a structural fluid in machinery and devices with a primary function to generate a layer in the form of microfilm between the device's moving parts. Industrial lubricants can perform various activities during operation, including reducing friction, eliminating scuffing on rubbing machine elements, washing carbon deposits and microparticles, anti-corrosion, cooling, and other impacts. Most of the base oils used in industrial lubricant manufacture are created during crude oil processing since these oils were far less expensive than synthetic or natural base oils. Mineral oils, which are derived from crude oil, are obtained in a traditional oil refinery.

Lubricating oil is discharged into the environment as oil mist and tiny droplets, constituting a serious environmental danger. The composition, emission volume, and frequency in a given area and attributes of an open-cutting system device are all directly tied to the strength and impact of interactions with oil derivatives. Since mineral oils have very low biodegradability, petroleum-derived oil poses a primary hazard to sawing operators in the natural environment. It also poses a secondary hazard due to the accumulation of oils in plant, animal, and groundwater issues. Further, Lubricating oils derived from crude oil pose a serious hazard to aquatic habitats as water with a concentration of oil of 1 part per million (ppm) is deemed polluted.

Additionally, due to multistep physicochemical processes resulting in a change in the forms and distribution of organic matter in the spectrum of carbon, water, nitrogen, and phosphorus, oil pollution causes substantial harm to soils. Since soil is home to a wide range of microorganisms and higher living species, contamination with petroleum-based lubricants is dangerous. It may harm biological life and the ecosystem's normal functioning may be jeopardized. Mineral oil can plug soil pores, reducing aeration and preventing water infiltration. Further, petroleum chemicals in soils can inhibit or limit permeability, resulting in soil degradation owing to oxygen deficiency.

Since petroleum-based lubricants could cause severe damage to the environment if they leach out into the ecosystem through industrial wastes, the growing environmental awareness among people and stringent environmental laws could hamper the demand and sales of petroleum-based industrial lubricants. As petroleum-based industrial lubricants are the largest segment of industrial lubricants, the respective factors could be considered as a major market restraint.

COVID-19 Impact on Industrial Lubricants Market

The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic was detrimental to the global industrial lubricants market due to three major factors:

• The first and foremost impact of the pandemic on the market comes from the impact on the supply chain, thereby tarnishing the availability of raw materials and the sales of the finished product.

• Secondly, the manufacture of industrial lubricants involves many manufacturing and purification processes that were widely hampered due to the lockdowns and government regulations to reduce the worker num in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

• The final reason behind the high impact of the pandemic on the global industrial lubricants market is associated with the disruptions in its major end-user verticals such as construction, automotive, and manufacturing, among others. The reduction in overall activities in all these end-user verticals diminished the market demand for industrial lubricants, affecting the demand-supply dynamics.

Nonetheless, as the global economy and industries return to their former self and are even showing signs of betterment than previous case scenarios, the market prospects for industrial lubricants are expected to return or even exceed their former glory. Growing urbanization, industrialization, and automation are also considered crucial factors expected to boost the market for industrial lubricants in the global market.

Industrial Lubricants Market Segmentation

The global industrial lubricants market is classified based on product, base, end-user, and region.

Automotive dominates the end-user segment due to the growing demand in the respective market, which fuels extensive manufacturing

Based on end-user, the global industrial lubricants market is segmented into construction, metal & mining, cement production, power generation, automotive, chemical, oil & gas, textile, and others.

Because of the growing demand in the automotive sector, the automotive segment is likely to dominate the industrial lubricants market in terms of market share. As per the data, the total global number of vehicles produced in the first three quarters of 2021 was 5,72,62,777, which showed a 10% increase from the 2020 value, which was 5,21,46,292.         

Economic expansion in developing countries is driving up car ownership, which will drive up demand and allow the sector to ensure dominance in the market for a considerable number of future years. Additionally, the stable growth in the automotive industry in industrialized countries such as U.S. and Japan could also act as catalysts for the growth of the automotive industry in the respective market.

Industrial Lubricants Market Geographical Share

Asia-Pacific dominates the industrial lubricants market due to the extensive growth of the construction sector in the region.

Asia-Pacific is expected to dominate the global industrial lubricants market due to the region's growing population, combined with rising construction investment in China, India, and Indonesia's burgeoning markets.

For instance, many Chinese provinces have already finished several big infrastructure projects by the end of 2021. The Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in South China presented several significant construction projects worth US$ 29.15 million in November 2021. Meanwhile, Hubei Province in Central China recently staged a fourth-quarter launch ceremony for 805 projects totaling 452 million yuan. The Indian government has been actively promoting house construction to meet the country's goal of providing accommodation for 1.3 million people. Over the next seven years, the country is expected to see roughly US$ 1.3 trillion invested in housing, with 60 million new dwellings being built.

Industrial Lubricants Companies and Competitive Landscape

The global industrial lubricants market is active and dynamic in terms of the number and strength of global and local manufacturers. Due to the vast number of rivals, the market is classified as fragmented. Some of the industry's key competitors are Royal Dutch Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron Corporation, Total S.A., PetroChina Company Limited, Idemitsu Kosan Co. Ltd, Sinopec Limited, Fuchs Petrolub AG, Lukoil, and Valvoline. To achieve competitive advantages and recognition in their respective markets, significant market stakeholders use market techniques such as mergers, acquisitions, product launches, contributions, and collaborations.

Exxon Mobil

Overview: Exxon Mobil supplies its products through three product categories such as upstream, downstream, and chemical. The company supplies acoustic insulation products through its “chemicals” segment. The company operates in around 21 countries globally in four major regions, North America, South America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. The company has more than 160 nationalities represented in the employee base. The company has made 6 major deep-water discoveries with 8 agreements to research lower-emission technologies. The company has 13 chemical growth projects with three 3 new facilities operating above design rates. The company has more than 20,000 scientists and engineers.

Product Portfolio: Mobil commercial lubricants for industrial operations deliver the outstanding and balanced performance that your industrial equipment requires. The lubricants are effective mineral and synthetic industrial oils and greases that have been particularly developed to give longer lubrication intervals even in extreme temperatures, high loads, and damp situations.

Key Development:

On May 18, 2018, Looble, a user-friendly, online industrial-lubricant selector, was introduced by ExxonMobil Lubricants and Petroleum Specialties to help maintenance professionals make informed lubricant decisions, to improve equipment performance and minimize unplanned downtime.