Bunker fuel sales at the Middle Eastern hub of Fujairah climbed on both a yearly and monthly basis in March, rising to the highest level in 18 months, according to Ship & Bunker.
Total sales excluding lubricants reached 700,918 m3 in March, according to the latest data from the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone and price reporting agency S&P Global Commodity Insights. The total was up by 25.2% from a year earlier, by 10.7% from February's level and the most since August 2022.
March's sales were 11% higher than the average seen over the previous 12 months.
That left Q1's total at 2.01 million mt, the most since the third quarter of 2022.
Singapore, the world's largest marine fuels hub, saw conventional and biofuel bunker sales advance by 5.5% on the year in March but decline by 1.7% from February's level.
180 CST VLSFO sales in Fujairah rose by 269.6% on the year to 924 m3 in March, 380 CST VLSFO gained 2.6% to 463,245 m3, HSFO jumped by 144.6% to 198,273 m3, MGO sank by 40.3% to 321 m3 and LSMGO advanced by 43.7% to 38,155 m3.
HSFO took a 28.3% share of the total market last month, up from 14.5% a year earlier.
Fujairah's average VLSFO price in March was $643.50/mt, up by 3% on the month and by 10.6% on the year, according to Ship & Bunker data.
Singapore's average VLSFO price in March was $642.50/mt, up by 0.4% from February's level and by 10.2% from the level seen a year earlier.
Ship & Bunker's G20-VLSFO Index of average prices across 20 leading bunkering ports gained 1% on the month and 7.2% on the year to $664.50/mt in March.