Brazilian lubricants producer and distributor Moove was the country’s largest lubricants supplier in February for just the second time in more than five years.

The company’s share of Brazil’s total lube sales fell in February. ICONIC Lubricants’ share of total sales fell even more, pushing it down to second place.

Moove’s share of Brazil’s lube sales fell back to 22.8pc of the total in February, according to IBP. The share was down from 22.9pc in January.

Brazil’s lube sales fell to a one-year low in February but still rose for a third month from year-earlier levels.

Sales rose as rising consumption of passenger car motor oils (PCMO) outweighed falling demand for heavy-duty engine oils and industrial oils.

Moove benefited from the ongoing strength of PCMO demand.

Its share of almost 25pc of total PCMO sales in the first two months of the year was up from less than 23pc in all of 2022.

ICONIC’s share of Brazil’s lube consumption slipped to just above 22.5pc of the total in February, from around 23pc the previous month.

Its share of industrial oils sales fell to little more than 28pc of the February total, from closer to 29pc in January.

A sharp fall in Brazil’s industrial oils consumption magnified the impact of the smaller share.

Industrial oils demand fell in February to the lowest since first-half 2020.

Petronas was the key outlier in February.

Its share of Brazil’s lube sales jumped to more than 13pc of the total, up from around 10.5pc the previous month and little more than 10pc in all of 2022.

Its share rose on the back of a 17pc rise in its total sales in February from the previous month. The jump in sales contrasted with a 6pc fall in Brazil’s total lube sales from January.