Tapping the barometer
20 Aug 2010
London – UK-based industry analysts are picking up mixed signals about the pace and direction of the current economic recovery – both in the domestic market and internationally.
A study of the UK market for industrial gases by Manchester-based MBD appears to rule out the prospects of any rebound, even as far ahead as 2015.
Demand for gases such as hydrogen, nitrogen and sulphur trioxide, fell by 4% in 2009, and is set for a further 1% dip in 2010. The declines, said MBD, reflect the impact of adverse economic conditions on key end-use industries, The market, it suggested, remains stymied by rising energy and manufacturing costs and environmental constraints, with growth set to stay below 2% to 2015.
By contrast, IMS Research’s quarterly tracker of the industrial PCs market found that EMEA?sales rose 28% in the second quarter of 2010, and by 40% and 60% in the Americas and Asia, respectively.
“Industrial PC revenues in EMEA, the Americas and Asia Pacific each show the growth in the second quarter of 2010 is greater than in the first, showing the recovery has strengthened into the middle part of the year, as machine-builder and industrial end-user confidence has increased,” said IMS.
Total world IPC sales are set to exceed the high of 2008 in 2012, the Wellingborough-based firm added. Leading suppliers believe that sales in 3Q10 and 4Q10 will remain strong, although growth could stabilise towards the end of the year.
In a separate report, IMS has forecast that the world 2010 IPC revenues would be 12% higher than in 2009. Growth in EMEA and Americas was forecast to come in at 10-15%; and closer to 20% in Asia.
