Suppliers estimate that March marine fuel sales in Panama were down by at least 25pc from a year earlier because of reduced vessel traffic amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Sales fell by at least 112,400t from March 2019 to total less than 337,000t.

Suppliers said demand has been fluctuating widely in March, with some days bringing barely any inquiries and other days bringing overwhelming demand. But shippers estimate that overall buying interest was down on the year. The demand fluctuations reflected sharp price volatility in the crude market.

But shipowners largely expect prices to continue to fall because of the ongoing price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia and the spread of the virus in the Americas.

Prior to the effects of the price war and the pandemic, Panama marine fuel bunker sales were up by 18.5pc to 436,066t in February compared with 367,875t during the same period last year. Panama port authority statistics showed sales of very low-sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) accounted for 78pc of aggregate marine fuel demand, marine gasoil sales were 13pc and high-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) were 9pc in February.

The bulk of Panama’s VLSFO imports originate from the US Gulf and Argentina. In February and March, VLSFO in Panama was assessed the second cheapest in Latin America after the ports of Santos and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.

The bulk of the HSFO imports are from Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Mexico. Panama imports distillate fuels mostly from the US Gulf.