Med bitumen exports to South America up in 2022

Mediterranean bitumen exports to South America tripled last year to meet rising regional demand.

Cargo exports from the European Mediterranean to South American destinations totalled 177,000t last year, jumping from just 58,400t in 2021, and accounting for more than half of the continent's cargo inflows, according to Vortexa data. Last year's import volumes were the highest for at least six years.

Planned elections this year in South American countries such as Argentina and Paraguay could further lift infrastructure activity and bitumen requirements, supporting import volumes from the Mediterranean and the US.

Argentinian terminals absorbed 70.2pc of the Mediterranean exports, followed by 15.2pc to Chile, 11.9pc to Uruguay, with the rest going to Brazil.

Bitumen exports to South America totalled 52,000t in 2016, 53,300t in 2017, 83,900t in 2018, 111,500t in 2019, zero in 2020 and 58,400t in 2021, according to Vortexa.

Spanish bitumen consistently made up over 50pc of these flows exports since 2017 but this dropped to 38.3pc in 2022. Of the 177,000t exported to South America in 2022, 38.3pc was Spanish, 37.5pc was Italian, 15.2pc was Turkish and 9pc was Greek.

Turkish bitumen only began to be exported to South America last year, while 2022 was the first year since 2017 that saw Italian cargoes head for the region. There has been no bitumen exported from northern Europe to South America since 2019, partly because of reduced north European surpluses linked to a swathe of refinery closures.

Total South American cargo imports jumped by 80pc last year to 331,000t, with the US by far the biggest exporter to its southern hemisphere neighbours. But that share fell back from a peak of 75pc in 2020, when no European bitumen was imported to South America, to 42.1pc in 2022.

US exports to the region rose from 82,700t to 139,500t last year.

By Tom Woodlock