Demand for shipping fuel increased in the world's bussiest bunker port following a drop in prices, sending March sales in Singapore climbing 17 percent on the previous month.
March sales data from Singapore's Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) shows that total bunker sales rose to 3.6 million metric tons (mt) from February's two year low of just under 3.1 million mt.
The rise took volumes just shy of January's volumes of 3.66 million mt, but still bested 2011's average of $3.596 million mt.
Cargo volume rose to 47.9 million tons, the highest since April 2011.
Looking ahead, if 2011 is any guide, the rise in volumes could be short lived.
Last year, the only month other than February moving less than 3.5 million mt of product was April, when the port posted its worst sales month of that calendar year at just over 3.2 million mt.
But some analysts are predicting further volume gains, with Bloomberg quoting Oliver Imaizumi, a senior trading manager at PetroSummit Pte in Singapore, as saying “High fuel prices have limited bunker sales in February, while I expect sales to rebound further in April given the fuel cost is supposed to go down with crude prices".
Imaizumi further speculated that lower fuel prices in Singapore may attract more ships to purchase fuel in the island state.
