From a family business to a major player; the story of African Group Lubricants

S outh Africa is one of Africa’s largest economies, with a population of around sixty-one million. Consequently, the automotive and industrial sectors are sizeable. To cater to the lubrication needs of this vast economy, South Africa has attracted many multinational Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) to supply lubricants.

According to Mordor Intelligence, the country’s annual lubricant consumption is estimated at 419.90 million liters, with a projected annual growth rate of 4%. The market continues to experience significant growth and is emerging as an attractive hub for key industry players. This market is considered one of the mature markets in Africa, and it, therefore, has a demand for high-quality lubricants. This has seen the major multinational lubricant brands take the lion’s market share. It is impressive that despite the significant presence of multinational companies, indigenous lubricant companies are also present. These companies have a range of products specifically made for the South African landscape, and they, too, have a customer base. To take it a notch higher; some of these companies have blending plants that apply international standards to produce high-quality lubricants.

As a result of this competency portrayed by the indigenous companies, the South African lubricants market has witnessed strategic alliances, cooperation, and partnerships among these companies and the multinational players in the lubricant industry for increased efficiencies, diversification, and other operational and economic benefits.

In this article, we look at one of the indigenous lubricant companies in South Africa that have made significant strides to cement its place in the lubricants industry. Initially a family-owned enterprise, the African Group (AG) Lubricants is a recognized player in South Africa’s market. It is a subsidiary of enX Group, an industrial group listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange that serves various industry sectors in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa, offering branded and, in some segments, locally manufactured industrial equipment, components, services, and technical expertise across a broad spectrum of industries.

Established over 20 years ago, AG Lubricants is a manufacturer, marketer, and distributor within the lubrication industry in South Africa. It offers a range of lubrication products and services, automotive lubricants, industrial fluids. These products are either from its lubricant’s private label or the international companies it distributes for. Besides supplying lubrication products, AG Lubricants, working alongside its lubricant engineers, partners with its clients to deliver tailored solutions that enhance and bring value to their customers’ businesses.

AG Lubricants has partnered with prominent global industry leaders in the manufacturing and distribution of lubricants. One of the companies it has partnered with is ExxonMobil, an international energy company selling the Mobil brand of lubricants. Besides being awarded the rights to manufacture automotive lubricants in South Africa by ExxonMobil, AG Lubricants has also been granted local blending rights on certain product ranges for the mining, construction, and agricultural sectors. Under the manufacturing approval, AG Lubricants currently blends a range of ExxonMobil products such as Mobil Delvac MX 15W40, Mobil Super, Mobil AGRI, Mobilgear, and Mobilfluid, among others. Apart from these lubricants blended by AG Lubricants, ExxonMobil offers the Southern Africa market a complete range of hydraulic and lubricating products, including greases, to enhance machine operational efficiencies.

AG Lubricants blending plant.

SOURCE | AG LUBRICANTS

PCI Small Pack Fill Line

SOURCE | AG LUBRICANTS

Being one of the independent lubricant blenders in South Africa certified by ExxonMobil to produce its products, AG Lubricants blends according to the exact standards stipulated by the requirements of its principal. It exclusively uses base oils supplied by ExxonMobil’s Basestocks Distributor and procures additives from both domestic and international sources.

The lubricants are manufactured at AG Lubricants’s independently owned blending facility in Boksburg, Gauteng, South Africa. The independently owned blending plant has an in-house lab, an automated packaging line with in-line labelling and heat-sealing equipment, a warehouse management facility, a supply network management system, and a Lab Information Management System (LIMS). Besides blending, the plant offers testing, filling, distribution, and stock management.

The plant complies with ISO 9001:2015 Quality and ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Certification standards. The blending facility’s laboratory aligns with the international laboratory quality standard ISO 17025:201.

ExxonMobil’s decision to give AG Lubricants blending rights for some of its products is a testament to AG Lubricants’s facility and proof that indigenous companies can produce lubricants that meet global standards.

AG Lubricants has also collaborated with Quaker Houghton and provides a range of fire-resistant hydraulic fluids and a full range of industrial fluids for various applications in metal machining, forming, forging, cleaning, and corrosion protection.

Under its private label, Centlube, AG Lubricants produces coolants, antifreeze, engine cleaners, and brake fluid. The Centlube product range is a complimentary range of ancillary products to international brands represented by African Group Lubricants.

From all of the above partnerships, AG Lubricants offers a comprehensive range of lubricant products for key industrial segments, including automotive, agricultural, steel manufacturing, energy, mining, construction, pulp and paper, and many more. Outside South Africa, AG Lubricants has a distribution footprint across the Democratic Republic of Congo, Swaziland, Lesotho, Botswana, and Mozambique.

AG Lubricants has experienced significant year-on-year growth, tripling its workforce over a decade. The company hopes to continue growing its footprint in the automotive, agricultural, and mining sectors in South Africa and surrounding countries. AG Lubricants attributes its growth trajectory to the confidence of its global partners, ExxonMobil and Quaker Houghton in AG Lubricants. AG Lubricants hopes for continued expansion and performance.

The partnerships further reflect AG Lubricants’s growing market share and expansion capabilities and speak to the critical role indigenous companies are playing in the lubricants industry. It will be exciting to see more local companies come up to have a seat at the table in the industry, not only in South Africa but also across the entire continent. .