Biolubricants, lubricants derived from renewable or biomass feedstocks rather than petroleum, are expected to play an increasingly important role in the forestry equipment industry as equipment manufacturers and operators strive to improve their environmental profile, according to a Freedonia Group analysis. Source: Timberbiz
Demand for biolubricants is significant only in a number of developed countries – partially due to cost factors, but also to the lack of performance benefits offered by biolubricants. Since their benefit is purely environmental, they are most popular in total loss applications, such as chainsaw oils. Thus, demand for biolubricants is most relevant in developed countries that have a significant presence of outdoor power equipment, such as
the United States, Germany, Japan, Canada and the Nordic countries, some of which have enacted measures that will support biolubricant use in forestry and other equipment.
For example:
The United States federal government has adopted rules that afford procurement preferences for biolubricants, including hydraulic fluids and other industrial lubricants.
Germany, the second largest market for biolubricants in the world, has put programs in place to convert equipment from conventional lubricants to biobased products, especially in off-highway vehicles used in construction and forestry.
Global demand for forestry equipment is forecast to expand 3.8% per year to
$9.3 billion between 2020 and 2025. Following a weak market performance due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, global forestrya ctivity will expand and the outlook for the related equipment market will improve as:
- economic conditions stabilize around the world and international trade and foreign investment recovers
- wood prices rebound from lows reached in 2020 in many parts of the world
- manufacturing activity grows, and new wood-composite materials and goods are introduced as alternatives to less environmentally friendly products (eg plastics)
- global construction spending accelerates, and the use of more advanced building techniques in developing nations grows
- forestry operations in mature markets adopt new technologies to maximize their productivity, comply with new regulations, and reduce their impact on the environment
- use of more machinery-intensive logging techniques grows in many developing nations.
