Asia/Pacific News
Japan's February Bonded Bunker Sales Fall 4.2%
After January saw little change in the volume of tax exempt bonded bunkers sold in Japan, February sales slid 4.2 percent year-on-year, according to data from the country's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry quoted by Platts.
February's sales volume of 303,696 kiloliters (1.91 million barrels) was also 12.7 percent lower than January's sales of 347,917 kiloliters (2.19 million barrels).
The drop came as no surprise to industry observers who had already predicted demand would be lower than in January due to the Chinese New Year break, which last year occurred in January.
"In China, there were less working days during the month [of February] because of the holiday season," a market source was quoted as saying.
Sales of bonded marine diesel oil in February were 5,688 kiloliters, up 30.8 percent from February 2012, but 8.7 percent lower month-on-month.
Traders were quoted as predicting March sales, the figures for which will be released on May 16, 2013, would increase to about 355,000 kl thanks to incremental demand from newly-built vessels.
