China’s base oils imports have slowed down in July, falling 40% to 151,800 tonnes from the previous month after the country took in record volumes in the second quarter, data from China Customs showed on Tuesday. The slowdown in Chinese buying has continued in August, market sources said. “This (reduced Chinese buying) has been a help to other regional markets like India which have seen more spot availability last two months,” said an Indian buyer. China had imported 245,900 tonnes of base oils in June, closing the second quarter with 731,000 tonnes of imports, as domestic car sales continued to grow. Base oils are used to make lubricants for automotive and industrial applications. On a year-on-year basis, the country's base oils imports in July 2009 were still up nearly 28% as overall demand has remained healthy, said some regional sellers.(ICIS)