Singapore: Smaller Stems Drag Bunker Sales to 3.5 Year Low

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Monday May 13, 2019

Singapore’s monthly bunker sales hit a 3.5 year low in April, with volumes dragged down as a result of buyers lifting smaller stems.

The latest preliminary data from the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) shows April sales of 3,712,100 metric tonnes (mt), 9% lower month-on-month and 12% lower than April last year.

It was the lowest monthly volumes recoded since October 2015, albeit not too far away from the 3,780,400 mt sold just two months ago in February.

As always IFO380 made up the majority April volumes with 2.6 million mt sold. 500 cSt material, the port’s second most popular product, made up the majority of the balance with 691,900 mt sold.

Calls for bunkers were less than 1% lower in April compared to the previous month (3320 in April vs 3290 in March) putting the average stem size for last month at 1,128 mt.

In comparison, the current 12-month average stem size at the port is 1,227 mt.