Metso boss upbeat about trends in valves market
17 Jan 2013
London – The valves market is uncertain but suppliers are plugging away with new developments to meet increasing safety, regulatory and technical demands, while at the same time keeping an eye on reducing costs for the customer.
Setting the scene, Mika Nissinen, vice president for Metso’s Neles and Mapag product lines, believes that the 2009 sudden depression remains fresh in the mind of the industry causing the markets to suffer from uncertainty and unrest.
This lingering concern, he said, is amplified by speculation on the effects of the financial situation in Europe and signs of a slowdown in China.
Against this backdrop, though, industrial investments have continued strongly during 2012 and the EPC companies have recorded backlog levels at an all-time-high, the Metso executive reports.
This will bring business for valve companies in the next 6-12 months period, forecasts Nissinen, who also notes that process automation companies are generally growing sales and generating good results.
So business is surprisingly good - but for how long?
Nissinen sees the oil & gas market outlook as good in all continents. Shale gas exploration and production development, he added, continues strong in North-America while new shale gas resources are found all over the world including Europe, which has so far been missing green field investments.
“The gas development will be followed by chemical and petrochemical producers with olefins and related petrochemical plant expansions. The project activity has slowed in the oil sands sector but offshore investments continue strong despite environmental concerns,” said the Metso expert.
“The coal gasification and coal liquefaction projects continue with high priority in China. Business hot spots are in China, Russia, Brazil, India and Middle-East. In pulp and paper, China has been slowing down but the old polluting capacity closures will open new opportunities.
The paper market is currently suffering from overcapacity but the pulp industry is having a high season. There is quite a lot of project activity on-going, especially in South-America, Asia Pacific and Russia.”
On the other hand, pricing pressure for valve suppliers remains high.
“Our customers are running cost reduction programmes with targets to reduce the purchasing costs of equipment,” the Metso VP said. “Competitors from emerging countries are getting more foothold with a cost effective, fit for purpose offering.”
(More information on this topic in the Pumps & Valves supplement in the Jan/Feb 2013 issue of Process Engineering)
