Malaysia Automotive Lubricant Market Outlook to 2025: Ken Research

The report titled “Malaysia Automotive Lubricant Market Outlook to 2025- Driven by growing adoption of high-performance lubricants, increasing Vehicles on road coupled with the availability of Products on E-commerce Platforms" provides a comprehensive analysis of the Automotive Lubricant Market in Malaysia. The report also initiates by explaining the need and opportunity of automotive lubricant industry in Malaysia. Further it proceeds with explanation of current market size and demand by different segments. It also includes the growth drivers, trends, developments, challenges, value chain analysis and pricing analysis. It gives detailed explanation of competitive scenario including cross comparison between major players, Porter’s Five Force analysis and detailed company profiles of major players. It concludes with future scope and analyst recommendations.

Market Overview

The industry is at growth stage, with increasing demand of automotive lubricants due to increasing automotive sales. The industry is import driven as both the end product and raw materials are majorly imported from other countries such as Thailand, Singapore, China, Europe and USA. The prices have been continuously increasing due to increasing price of base oil and crude oil. Over the review period, Malaysia lubricants market observed a healthy growth both in terms of revenues as well as sales volume. In the year 2020, the market witnessed a double-digit negative growth rate because of the covid-19 pandemic.

Segmentation By Grade (Synthetic, Semi-Synthetic and Mineral)

High performance and expensive synthetic and semi-synthetic lubricants are gaining pace with increasing marketing efforts by lubricant manufacturers and increasing sales margins of synthetic lubricant to mechanics by distributors as well as manufacturers. With increasing use of synthetic lubricants, the average per annum requirement of lubricant is falling but the higher prices of synthetic lubricants lead to increasing market revenue.

Demand by Type (Passenger Car Engine Oil, Heavy Duty Engine Oil, Motorcycle Engine Oil, Hydraulic Oil, Gear Oil & Transmission Oil and Greases)

In 2020, Passenger Car Engine Oil accounted for the leading share in the automotive lubricant sales followed by Heavy Duty Engine Oil, Motorcycle Engine Oil and others. Increasing number of passenger cars, increasing average distance travelled by a vehicle and the high consumption of lubricants in a commercial vehicle are ensuring the dominance of Passenger Car Engine Oil and Heavy-Duty Diesel Engine Oil. Large circulation of motorcycles catapulted the share of motorcycle oil to the third highest in the market.

By End Users

Since, number of Passenger Vehicles in Malaysia is higher than other vehicles, they are the biggest consumers of automotive lubricants. The number of passenger vehicles on road is one the rise due to increasing private vehicle ownership because of high per capita income and unreliable public transport system in the country. Increasing average distance travelled by trucks catapulted the share of commercial vehicle to the second highest in the market.

By Sales Channel

Majority of sales were undertaken through distributors followed by direct sales to OEMs and through company owned fuel stations. By distributors maximum sales were attributed to service stations and garages due to high influence of mechanics in lubricant purchase. The share of supermarkets and online retail is low due to the low trust level attributed and relatively new status of these modes of distribution.

Competitive Landscape

The industry is concentrated with presence of around 15-30 manufacturers including multinational oil producers and local manufacturers. The industry is majorly dominated by three major players namely Castrol, Shell and Petronas accounting for a market share of +70% collectively in terms of sales volume in 2020.

Future Outlook and Projection

The industry experienced a major downfall in 2020 due to coronavirus pandemic, but it is expected to gain the pace and recover the loss in the next 2-3 years. Semi-Synthetic and Synthetic grades are expected to gain prominence and favor owing to demand for superior quality and increasing lubricant quality standard awareness among consumers. Introduction of electric vehicle will dampen the demand of traditional engine oil but will drive sales of E-lubricants. Market consolidation will take place as the automotive lubricant industry is a niche space and players with better geographical presence will take over others.