Environmentally adapted lubricants in the Nordic marketplace – recent developments

The Nordic marketplace, and in particular the Swedish market, is a sizeable part of the world market for environmentally adapted lubricants (EALs). The largest segment, by far, is EAL hydraulic fluids for mobile hydraulics, and chain saw oils for the environmentally adapted forestry operations (mainly) by the international Swedish and, until recently, Finnish forestry companies. In this paper, some of the important parameters influencing the size and development direction are analysed. These include market regulatory factors, eco‐labels, OEM‐issued standards/specifications, end‐user demands and the market volume development for the period 1999‐2001. The spread of EALs to other forestry markets, Norway and the Baltic States, is also covered.